Michael Johnson (footballer, Born 1988)
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Michael Johnson (born 24 February 1988) is an English former professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
who played as a
midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
. Johnson was a product of the
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
,
Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...
, Crewe Alexandra,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, Everton and
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
youth academies. He made his
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
debut for City during the 2006–07 season and went on to become somewhat of a first team regular. While with City he was an England youth international, for both the under-19 and under-21 teams. Several injury setbacks that started during the 2008–09 season hampered his progress and he went on to only make four appearances for City in his final five years of his contract, playing his final match in a League Cup tie against Scunthorpe United in 2009. During the 2011–12 season Johnson was loaned out to Leicester City on a season long loan deal, but it was cut short due to injury. He was released from his contract with Manchester City in December 2012, over two years since his last appearance for the club.


Club career


Youth career

Johnson began his youth career with
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
, joining
Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...
in 2000 and Everton in 2002. He joined his only senior club Manchester City in 2004, graduating to the first team in 2006. He was part of the Manchester City
youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...
that reached the 2006 FA Youth Cup Final. Johnson was skipper of the FA Youth Cup runners-up team in the absence of Micah Richards during the 2005–06 season and became the 20th Academy Graduate to progress from Platt Lane to the City first team, making his debut away for manager Stuart Pearce at Wigan on 21 October 2006. His ability to run with the ball, score goals and operate box-to-box caught the eye both locally and nationally.


Manchester City

On 21 October 2006, he was rewarded for his progress and made his Manchester City debut in the
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
, in a 4–0 defeat by
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...
at the JJB Stadium. His second start came in a 2–0 win over
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
in March 2007, the start of a run of seven consecutive first team appearances, which was ended by a hamstring injury which ruled him out of a match against
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...
. He scored his first goal for City in a 1–0 win over Derby County on 15 August 2007 at the
City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...
; the first home league goal City had scored since the new year. Johnson spent the end of 2007 and early 2008 out of the team with an abdominal injury during which time he would have a double-hernia operation. He returned to action on 29 February 2008, playing the full 90 minutes in City's goal-less home draw with Wigan. Johnson finished the 2007–08 season with three goals. Johnson started the 2008–09 season in good form, linking well with players such as Stephen Ireland and
Elano Elano Blumer (born 14 June 1981), known as Elano, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. Known for his accurate passing and precise set pieces, Elano started his senior career at Santos, and spe ...
in the first few matches of the season, however after this, Johnson failed to feature for nearly a year due to a recurrence of his abdominal injury after City's League Cup defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 September 2008. He would not return for nearly seven months when he played for the reserve team in April, but Johnson would not feature for the first team until the following pre-season. Johnson made his return to action in City's pre-season match against South African team Orlando Pirates during the Vodacom Challenge, but a strain picked up in the warm-up for the next match ruled him out. Johnson made his first appearance of the 2009–10 season on 28 September 2009 in a 3–1 victory over
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
, coming on as a sub for Gareth Barry. On 28 October, Johnson scored his first goal in over a year in a League Cup tie against Scunthorpe United. On 10 December 2009, Manchester City announced that Johnson had suffered a serious knee injury in training which ruled him out of action until the end of the season. On 27 July 2011, Johnson signed a season-long loan deal with Leicester City, managed by former Manchester City manager
Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...
. However, his loan spell ended prematurely, in January 2012, when he sustained an injury, after making only nine appearances for the club. In January 2013, it was reported that Johnson had been released from Manchester City prior to 25 December 2012. This was revealed after a photograph surfaced of him looking overweight and unfit. Johnson had only made four competitive first team appearances for City in his final five seasons, failing to make a single appearance for the club in the last three campaigns. The apparent demise of his promising career was lamented by a number of those that had worked with him. Former Manchester City teammate Dietmar Hamann described him as an "outstanding" midfielder that reminded him of his
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
teammate
Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He won the German Footballer of ...
. Former manager Eriksson said that he was "An excellent player ... everyone thought he would become the next big star for England". City manager Roberto Mancini said: "A guy with a big talent – I am sad for him".


International career

Johnson represented England at under-19 level and under-21 level.


Personal life

Johnson was born in Urmston, Greater Manchester. In February 2012, Johnson was arrested for drink-driving when police in Manchester city centre pulled him over and breathalysed him. While on bail for this offence, he was arrested again following a crash in the early hours in
Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...
. Then again in June 2012 Johnson was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving at the scene of a collision after he crashed his Mercedes into a parked car while travelling to his girlfriend's house in Urmston. In September 2012 he was fined a total of £5,500 for all three offences by Manchester Magistrates Court. In an interview with the ''
Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'' following his release from Manchester City, he stated that he had been under treatment for several years by The Priory Clinic for
mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
problems. Johnson added that he "would be grateful if I could now be left alone to live the rest of my life." In January 2015, Johnson opened his own
estate agent An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of real estate, properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a Letting agent, letting or manag ...
's business in his hometown of Urmston.


Career statistics


References


External links


Michael Johnson profile
Manchester City website (archived) *

Premier League {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Michael 1988 births Living people Footballers from Urmston English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers British estate agents (people) 21st-century English sportsmen