Howard Johnson (17 July 1925 – 15 June 2015) was an English

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 primarily as a defender. Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, he played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

Early life

Born in the

Pitsmoor Pitsmoor is a former village, now a suburb of Sheffield, England. The name derives from ''Or-pits'' as, anciently, the main local industry was the mining of ore.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', p.17 (1971) The village f ...

area of

, Johnson attended the Firth Park Grammar School and later served in the

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. On returning to civilian life, Johnson trained to be an accountant and worked as a finance clerk while playing football part-time for Norton Woodseats.

Playing career

Johnson was signed on a part-time contract by

in March 1951, with United donating £200 to his amateur club. After making his

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

debut against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

a few days later, Johnson made occasional first-team appearances for his first two seasons. Johnson began make regular appearances during the 1953–54 promotion season but was soon relegated to bit-part status once more as he had to compete with Joe Shaw in central defence. Johnson remained with the Blades until the summer of 1957, and despite having played most of his career as a defender, his final four games for the club were as a makeshift

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. Despite never really holding down a first team place with Sheffield United, Johnson left the club having made over 100 appearances, scoring one goal. After leaving Sheffield United, Johnson joined

where he remained for a further two seasons before joining non-league Denaby United in 1959.

Later life

On retiring from football, Johnson returned to his former career as an accounts clerk and later became a computer systems analyst. Johnson died on 15 June 2015. He was 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Howard 1925 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Sheffield United F.C. players York City F.C. players Denaby United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 20th-century Royal Navy personnel People educated at Firth Park Academy People from Pitsmoor Military personnel from Sheffield Royal Navy sailors 20th-century English sportsmen