Career
First spell at Rangers
Born in Glasgow but raised in Fife and known by the nickname 'Bud', [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Johnston began his career at local Junior club Lochore Welfare, also signing schoolboy forms with Rangers. [8] He joined the Gers full-time in 1964 aged 17 [10] and soon made his debut against St Johnstone in the Scottish League Cup on 29 August 1964. [11] Two months later, following injury to the established outside left Davie Wilson, Johnston was named in the side for the final of that competition and received his first winner's medal after a 2–1 Old Firm victory over Celtic. [12] [10] [13] He was befriended by one of the team's key players, fellow Fife native Jim Baxter. [12]
The following season, Rangers and Celtic shared a cup triumph each, beating the other in the finals; Celtic gained revenge in the League Cup [14] before Rangers won the 1965–66 Scottish Cup 1–0 in a replay, [10] with Wilson playing at inside left in the matches to accommodate both him and Johnston in the team. [15] Ten days before the League Cup Final, on 13 October 1965, Johnston had made his debut for Scotland in a World Cup qualifying fixture against Poland, aged just 18; [7] [10] [16] the match would end with disappointment in a 2–1 home defeat, the opponents scoring both their goals in the last five minutes. [17]
In the 1966 Scottish League Cup Final between the same sides, it was Celtic who prevailed by another 1–0 scoreline. [18] Johnston also played in the surprise Scottish Cup defeat to Berwick Rangers in January 1967, suffering a broken ankle, [10] [19] but recovered from the injury in time for the European Cup Winners' Cup Final on 31 May, in which Rangers lost out 1–0 to Bayern Munich. [10] [20] [21]
Over the next three seasons, Johnston's personal output included 65 goals from 137 appearances (as well as four caps for Scotland), but this yielded only one minor Glasgow Cup win during the period; arch-rivals Celtic had begun a period of dominance at that time, [12] [22] and overwhelmed Rangers 4–0 in the 1969 Scottish Cup Final [23] less than a month after Johnston had scored a hat-trick against them in a cup tie at Celtic Park. [24] There was further disappointment as the club was twice eliminated from the latter stages of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by English opponents, both of whom went on to win the trophy (Leeds United in 1968, [25] Newcastle United in 1969). [26] Johnston missed the home leg against Newcastle through suspension after he was sent off in the previous round against Athletic Bilbao. [27]
Celtic's domination of the Scottish league continued into the 1970s, and ultimately Johnston would end his spell at Ibrox without a championship medal. The 1970 Scottish League Cup Final went Rangers' way 1–0 over the familiar opponents, Johnston providing the cross for the winning goal, [10] [28] but he was fined afterwards by manager Willie Waddell for showboating (sitting on the ball), which supposedly brought shame on the club. [12] [7] The final of the 1970–71 Scottish Cup, yet another Old Firm clash, was won by Celtic after a replay. [29] A major off-field tragedy had also befallen Rangers that year when 66 supporters died in a disaster at the stadium. [30]
Johnston scored twice in the final as Rangers won the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1971–72 by defeating Dynamo Moscow 3–2 in Barcelona. [12] [10] [31] By that time he was often playing as a striker alongside Colin Stein (the other scorer in the final) as formations were modified. [32]
West Bromwich and later years
On 1st December 1972 Johnston joined a struggling West Bromwich Albion [33] who were 1 point above England's top tier [34] relegation positions. Albion paid a then club record £138,000. [35] He debuted against Liverpool that month. [36] [12] [37] Johnston ended his first season in England with relegation to the Second Division. West Brom remained there for three seasons before winning promotion at the end of the 1975–76 Football League season. He was not selected for the Scotland 1974 FIFA World Cup squad. Indeed he was not capped at all in between November 1970 and April 1977. [38]
His career included some controversial incidents. Widely regarded as possessing a short temper to match his quickness and skill, [12] [7] [8] [6] he was sent off over 20 times in his career. [6] [7] His move to West Brom came in the wake of a two-month ban for punching an opponent. [12] [7] After Scotland's opening game against Peru in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Johnston tested positive for a banned stimulant contained in Reactivan, a medication prescribed for his hay fever. His subsequent expulsion from the squad ended his international career after 22 appearances, [lower-alpha 1] although he maintained his innocence. [12] [8] [43] A year earlier, having been provoked by his opponent, he had been shown a red card for violent conduct in a friendly against Argentina on his last visit to that nation. [8] [7]
While playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps, he once mooned the Seattle Sounders bench following a goal, [44] and on another occasion took a swig from a fan's beer before taking a corner kick in San Jose, setting up a goal from the set-piece. [45] [12] Johnston was a key member of the 1979 NASL champion Vancouver Whitecaps alongside the likes of English World Cup winner Alan Ball, helping them defeat the New York Cosmos in the semi-final, and then the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–1 in Soccer Bowl '79. [12] [10]
Johnston returned to Rangers in 1980 to play under former teammate John Greig. [11] During a game at Ibrox that year, Aberdeen player John McMaster had to be given the kiss of life after Johnston stamped on his throat, [7] [46] [12] often listed as one of the reasons for the development of the rivalry between the clubs. [47] [48] This has since been denied by McMaster himself, who said that Johnston had jumped on his chest and that this had caused him some difficulty in breathing, but he had not needed resuscitation. [49] He won another Scottish Cup winner's medal in 1981, although he only played in the first match [50] and not the victorious replay. [51] Johnston made 404 appearances in all competitions for Rangers over his spells at the club, scoring 131 goals. [11]
He then had a spell at Hearts under another old Gers colleague, Alex MacDonald, where he was sanctioned by the SFA for apparently headbutting Celtic's David Provan and clashing with their manager Billy McNeill (a former on-field adversary), and later for commenting on the incident in a newspaper. [12]
In 2004 Johnston was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations. [52]
Kilmarnock Football Club, commonly known as Killie, is a Scottish professional football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. The team is currently managed by Derek McInnes, who was appointed in January 2022. The club has achieved several honours since its formation in 1869, most recently the 2011–12 Scottish League Cup after a 1–0 win over Celtic at Hampden Park and the Scottish Championship title in 2022. The club nickname, Killie, is the Scottish term for the town of Kilmarnock.
Kenneth Miller is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Miller, who played as a striker, is one of only five post-war players to have played for both Rangers and Celtic.
James Quinn was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic for 15 years, becoming one of the club's leading goalscorers of all time. He also represented Scotland.
James McMenamin, was a Scottish footballer who most notably played for Celtic from 1902 to 1920 and later served as assistant manager in the 1930s. He has been described by the club as "a true Celtic legend".
Ralph Laidlaw Brand is a Scottish retired footballer, who played as a striker for Rangers. He later played for Manchester City, Sunderland, Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical.
Joseph Miller is a Scottish retired footballer and a former manager of Scottish Football League club Clyde.
Derek Ferguson is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager. A creative midfield player, Ferguson is best remembered for his time with Rangers and Heart of Midlothian.
David Wilson was a Scottish international footballer who played as an outside left. He was perhaps best known for his decade at Rangers in which he played an important role in the club's success of the early 1960s; he also made over 100 appearances for Dundee United.
The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now competed for between the senior teams of Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park and the youth teams of Celtic and Rangers, and has used both knockout and round robin formats to determine the finalists.
Henry Anthony Hood was a Scottish football player and manager.
David Steel Stewart was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. After winning the Scottish Junior Cup with Kilsyth Rangers he was signed by Ally MacLeod's Ayr United for whom he played in two senior cup semi-finals. He then signed for Don Revie at Leeds United where he played when Leeds lost 2–0 to Bayern Munich in the 1975 European Cup Final. He signed for Ron Atkinson at West Bromwich Albion but didn't play for their first team. He then won promotion to the top flight of English football in his first season at John Toshack's Swansea City. Stewart saved a penalty in his one appearance for the Scotland national football team, a 1–0 defeat in East Germany in 1977.
The British League Cup was a football competition that was set up in April 1902 to raise money for the disaster at Ibrox Stadium, in which 25 people were killed and 517 injured at an international match between Scotland and England at the start of that month. The four clubs that participated in this competition were the winners and runners-up of the Scottish and English football leagues. It was a predecessor to the Empire Exhibition Trophy, Coronation Cup and Anglo-Scottish Cup. It succeeded the old World Championship matches between English and Scottish top clubs, as football became more widespread in the world and England-Scotland club matches could no longer be billed as World Championships.
Patrick William Groves was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward for Hibernian, Celtic, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa and Scotland. He is known for being the first player to be transferred for more than £100, becoming the first official record holder for the most expensive transfer ever. The record-setting transfer was from West Bromwich Albion F.C. to Aston Villa F.C. in 1893 for exactly £100. Three years later, in 1896, Groves' record was broken when Fred Wheldon was transferred to Aston Villa F.C. from Small Heath Alliance for between £350 to £500.
The 1909 Scottish Cup final was the final of the 36th season of the Scottish Cup. The match was an Old Firm affair contested by Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park, with the trophy being withheld by the Scottish Football Association following crowd disorder.
Celtic competed for five trophies in the 1966–67 season and the club won all of them: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup, and completed the only ever European Quintuple. However, their European Cup victory from this season qualified them for the World Championship the following season, which they went on to lose in a playoff to Racing. Over the course of this season, Celtic scored a world record 196 goals in the major competitions they took part in.
John McMenemy was a Scottish footballer, who played for Celtic, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, St Mirren and Scotland.
David Hamilton was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside left (winger). He played for Celtic for ten years between 1902 and 1912.
Thomas McAteer was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a centre half in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers, in the Scottish League for Dundee, Clyde, Celtic, Albion Rovers and Abercorn, and in the English Southern League for West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Victory Cup was a one-off Scottish football competition held in 1946 to celebrate the end of World War II. It is an unofficial competition in statistical terms, taking place at the end of the 1945–46 season just before official competitions such as the Scottish Football League and the Scottish Cup resumed.
