Derek Joseph Johnstone (born 4 November 1953) is a Scottish former
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and manager.
Johnstone played mainly for Rangers winning 14 major trophies during his career. He also had a spell at Chelsea and a brief stint in management with Partick Thistle. He mainly played as a striker but could also perform in central defence, and in midfield. Uniquely, he was selected to play in defence, midfield, and attack for
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
Playing career
Club
Rangers
Johnstone signed for Rangers as a schoolboy in 1968. He turned professional in 1970 and made his debut on 19 September 1970, aged 16 years and 319 days. Johnstone scored two goals in that match, a 5–0 victory against
Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
.
Johnstone thrust himself into the limelight just five weeks later when his header secured a 1–0 victory over
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
in the 1970 Scottish League Cup Final. Johnstone was still 16 at the time, but the faith shown in his ability by manager Willie Waddell paid off handsomely, as Rangers claimed their first major trophy for just over four years.
Despite his heroics against Celtic, Johnstone found regular first-team outings in the number '9' jersey hard to come by, largely due to the presence of Colin Stein, Scotland's first £100,000 player, although he did score 11 goals in 16 league appearances during the 1971–72 season. He compensated for his lack of frontline action by often playing as a centre-back when either Ronnie McKinnon or Colin Jackson was injured, and when the duo were ruled out of the 1972 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, Johnstone (still only 18) deputised in the match against Dynamo Moscow.
Johnstone soon became a regular in the starting line-up, and he picked up a
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,defeated Celtic 3–2 at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...
. Johnstone played a huge role in the winning goal, rising above the Celtic defence to head a Tommy McLean free-kick towards goal, and when his header struck both posts, Tam Forsyth was on hand to nudge the rebound over the line. The McLean-Johnstone combination that created this famous goal was a hallmark of Rangers' play in the 1970s.
Johnstone eventually picked up a league championship medal at the end of the 1974–75 campaign, as Rangers ended Celtic's nine-year reign as champions of Scotland, and he was an integral part of The ''Gers domestic treble success a year later. He scored a total of 31 goals in 51 appearances, including two in a 3–1 win over Hearts in the 1976 Scottish Cup Final. He scored his first, a typical header, after just 42 seconds and thus earned himself a unique place in the annals of Scottish football: the referee had actually kicked off the match early, so Johnstone had actually hit the net before the allotted 3pm kick-off time had been reached.
Although 1976–77 was a barren season for Rangers, they came back strongly in 1977–78 by winning their second treble inside three years. Johnstone was the outstanding performer in what was an exceptional Rangers side, scoring thirty-eight goals over the course of the campaign and picking up the Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year accolade.
With
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
reportedly interested in luring Rangers' top marksman to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Johnstone submitted a transfer request in the summer of 1978. He was seeking a new challenge in his career, but the intervention of new Rangers manager
John Greig
John Greig (born 11 September 1942) is a Scottish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers F.C., Rangers, as a player, manager and d ...
persuaded Johnstone to stay in Glasgow. He was named club captain, and in his first season with the armband, he almost led the Ibrox side to an unprecedented second successive treble; only a last-gasp 4–2 defeat against Celtic at
Parkhead
Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...
denied Rangers the Championship, but Johnstone did get his hands on the Scottish Cup – he scored twice in the Final's second replay against Hibernian – and the League Cup, beating
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
.
That season was to be the high point for the John Greig era, and Rangers' fortunes dipped badly thereafter. They did win the Scottish Cup in 1981 and the Scottish League Cup in 1982, but found themselves playing second fiddle in the Premier Division to Celtic and the emerging New Firm of Aberdeen and
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
.
Chelsea
Having been placed on the transfer list by Greig in April 1983, Johnstone left Rangers after the 1983 Scottish Cup Final defeat against Aberdeen to join Chelsea for a £30,000 transfer fee. Signed in September 1983, Johnstone provided extra cover in the Chelsea squad which won the Second Division title in 1984. He failed to dislodge the established forward duo of Kerry Dixon and David Speedie and made just four appearances, with a month on loan to Dundee United during the 1983–84 season.
Return to Rangers
He was tempted back to Ibrox by Jock Wallace in January 1985 for £25,000. He returned to a Rangers side that was in the midst of a doleful period in their history, and it was hoped that the return of a former favourite could galvanise an ailing team. However, it failed to work out and after 23 appearances and one goal, Johnstone was handed a free transfer when
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit.
A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...
took over the reins at Ibrox in the summer of 1986.
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. Despite Johnstone's rich vein of scoring form in 1978, he was overlooked by Ally MacLeod during Scotland's ill-fated World Cup campaign in Argentina. Although he was a member of the squad, he did not start any of the three matches that the Scots played.
Managerial career
Johnstone had a short spell as
player-manager
A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...
of Partick Thistle during the 1986–87 season, before leaving professional football in 1987.
Media work
Since leaving Partick Thistle, Johnstone has worked in the football media, including for
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...
,
Scottish Television
Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...
, Radio Clyde, GO Radio and Real Radio Scotland, where he co-presented the station's football phone-in until the end of the 2011–12 season. He also co-commentates on Rangers matches for the club's TV channel.
Career statistics
Club
International appearances
International goals
:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''
Honours
Club
;Rangers
*
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...