Johnstone Burgh Football Club is a Scottish

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 ...

club based in

Johnstone Johnstone (,
) is a town in the

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

, and play in .

History

The club was formed in 1956, in response to an article in the "Johnstone & Linwood Gazette" newspaper from a journalist that had been ordered out of the newspaper's office on the corner of Johnstone's Rankine Street by the office manager with instructions not to return until he had a story. The journalist proceeded to ask locals what they thought about forming a new football club to replace the former Scottish league side Johnstone F.C. Their most successful period was in the late 1950s and 1960s when they twice won junior football's top prize – the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2023–24 ed ...

. Probably their most successful manager was Jimmy Blackburn who led them to both their Scottish Cup wins as well as West of Scotland Cup and Central League Championship wins. One of our local lads, Bobby Dick, who hails from Elderslie, played what was then right half for the Burgh, and can boast two Scottish Cup winner's medals as well as a number of other medals. In those days the cup final was played 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 ...

, which made it a day to remember. In later years, Bobby's nephew Alan Donohoe played in goal for the Burgh and was involved in their cup final of 2000. The 1967–68 season was Johnstone Burgh's most successful season: they won the Scottish Junior Cup, beating Glenrothes 2–1 in extra time after a 2–2 draw at Hampden in the first match. Hugh Gilshan scored the winner. The team also won the Central League Championship and the Evening Times Trophy that season. Johnstone Burgh has a home support of around 100–150, though this tends to increase vastly when the team is doing well. An OVD Cup tie between Johnstone Burgh and Glenafton Athletic in February 2000 attracted a crowd of over 2000. In the 2000 Scottish Junior Cup Final against Whitburn, goals by Colin Lindsay, who later had a spell as manager, and John McLay took the game to penalties after a 2–2 draw. Johnstone Burgh won on penalties in their semi-final at

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on ''Waiting for the Sun'' (1968), its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his gir ...

, but failed to repeat this success in the final.

Ground

Since their foundation, "The Burgh," has been based at James Y. Keanie Park (named after the builder who donated the land the club was built upon). According to "The Juniors, 100 Years A Centenary History of Scottish Football" (McGlone/ McLure) the record attendance was 13,000 v Greenock in the 1963/64 Scottish Junior Cup. In 2014 Renfrew Juniors shared Keanie Park Stadium with Johnstone Burgh until October 2014 as a new stadium for Renfrew was not completed for the start of the 2014–15 season.

Current squad

On loan

Notable players

After the 1968–1969 season, the most successful in the club's history, Ian Reid signed for Arbroath, Hugh Gilshan for St Mirren, Danny Burke to East Fife and Jim McDonald to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. The following year, Ally Hunter signed for

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

after replacing George Connolly in goal at Keanie Park the season before. He went on to play for the full

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 ...

team. One of the two ball boys from the 1968–69 season, Allan Woods, signed a professional contract with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

at just 16 yrs old, under Dave McParland and returned to Johnstone Burgh after three years at Firhill. * Tommy Turner: Former

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

, Partick Thistle, Morton and St Mirren midfielder. * Malcolm Manley: Former Scotland Schools International; professional with Leicester City and

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. * Allan Woods: Former Scotland Schools international; Partick Thistle midfielder. *

Frank McAvennie Francis McAvennie (born 22 November 1959) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent two spells playing for each of St Mirren, West Ham United and Celtic. With Celtic, he won the Scottish Premier Division in ...

: Former St Mirren,

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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 ...

and

striker. * Andy Murdoch: Former Partick Thistle goalkeeper. *

Gerry Queen Gerald Queen (born 15 January 1945) is a Scottish retired footballer who played as a forward. Born in Glasgow, he began his senior career with St Mirren, having played at amateur level with Johnstone Burgh. He made 63 appearances in three ye ...

: Professional with St Mirren, Kilmarnock,

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

(English first division 1969–72) and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. *

Graham Dorrans Graham Dorrans (born 5 May 1987) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Johnstone Burgh. He began his football career at Scottish club Livingston, before joining English club West Bromwich Albion in 2008. In the ...

: Professional with West Brom, Norwich City, Rangers, Dundee, Dunfermline Ath. Scotland *

Kyle Lafferty Kyle Joseph George Lafferty (born 16 September 1987) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker for side Johnstone Burgh. Lafferty began his professional career with English side Burnley, where he made 89 appearances ...

: Internationally capped professional (85 caps) with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, Hearts, Kilmarnock and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Honours

* Winners: 1963–64, 1967–68, 2024–25 * Runners-up: 1999–00

Other honours

* Evening Times trophy winners: 1968–69 * West of Scotland Cup winners: 1958–59, 1964–65 *

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

champions: 1958–59, 1964–65, 1967–68 * Central League Premier Division winners: 2001–02 * Central Division Two winners: 1991–92, 2009–10, * West Region League Two winners: 2019–20 * Glasgow Dryburgh Cup: 1958–59 * Evening Times Cup Winners Cup: 2001–02

External links

Website

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Twitter

References

{{SJFA West Region Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Association football clubs established in 1956 Football in Renfrewshire 1956 establishments in Scotland West of Scotland Football League teams Johnstone