John Johnston (II)



John JohnstonJohn Johnston joined Motherwell in 1941 from Armadale Thistle, having earlier started with Winchburgh Albion. He was also a provisional Rangers signing when only sixteen and he only managed reserve outings there. He was a brave shot-stopper, John was highly respected in the Scottish game and his only notable absence came in the early 1950s when he was injured and he lost his place to Dick Hamilton. From October 1943 through until September 1949 John never missed a single League match. This long run came to an end after the first match of the 1949/50 season against Falkirk, but John was back for the last game of that same season, East-Fife defeated Motherwell in this game 4-3 at Fir Park. Funnily enough his last ever Motherwell appearance came against East Fife and this also ended in defeat but this time they ran out 3-2 winners.

John was a member of the 1944 summer cup winning side and in 1950 he picked up a league cup winner’s medal against Hibernian because the unlucky Dick Hamilton was injured, Dick had played in every match in the run up to the final. Johnston was to also feature in two Scottish Cup finals, in 1951 he was in the side beaten by Celtic, but the following year he was to feature in all ten games as Motherwell marched to victory by easily defeating Dundee 4-0 at Hampden. He was to finally leave the club in 1955, as the much younger Hastie Weir, recruited from Queen’s Park, established himself. John died in law hospital on 21 January 1989, just one day after former team-mate Willie Redpath.

Name:
John Johnston
Height:
5′ 9″
Weight:
12st
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Bo’ness
Position:
Goalkeeper
Nationality:
Scottish

Football Career:

Winchburgh
Armadale Thistle 1946
Motherwell 1946 1955
Hamilton Academical 1955 1956

Well Career:

Apps Goals
League:
205 0
Scottish Cup:
35 0
League Cup:
46 0
Other:
0 0
Total:
286 0