Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone some say is the greatest Celtic
player of time along with players like Henrik Larsson. Jinky’s balance,
dribbling skills and athleticism that he managed to play at the highest
level for over 12 years without suffering a serious injury make him stand out as one of Celtic's best ever. At just 5ft 4in and
nine-and-a-half stones, he was picked on by tough, but insecure opposition
defenders. Johnstone started his career in 1961 aged 17 having a terrible debut
against Kilmarnock losing 6-0 away. His
second game was a 4-3 defeat against Hearts although that was the game where he
scored his first senor goal. Despite the defeats, Johnstone’s performances
earned him a place in the Celtic starting eleven. His second season he helped
Celtic reach the semi-finals of the European Cup scoring in the first round
against Basel FC in a 5-0 win at Parkhead.
In 1965 when Jock Stein arrived as manager he doubted Johnstone as a player
but later he won him over with his skill and won his first winners medal on the
23rd of October 1965 when he played against Rangers in a 2-1 victory
in the Scottish League Cup Final.
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| Jimmy Johnstone celebrates a goal against Old Firm rivals Rangers |
Jimmy was of Celtic’s famous “Lisbon Lions”, the team which
won the 1967 European Cup against Inter Milan. In an early
tie against Nantes Johnstone was named by the French media “The flying flea”
because of his trickery on the right wing.
That year he finished third in the European footballer of the year
award. Two weeks later after the 2-1 win
against Inter in the European Cup Final Johnstone played in a
testimonial match at the Bernabéu
in a game where the Great Alfredo Di Stefano played. In front of 100,000 fans Johnstone dazzled
the “Los Blanco’s” fans with the chant “Olé!” ringing out around stadium. Johnstone
capped his outstanding performance by playing a pass to Bobby Lennox for the
only goal of the game.
Johnstone had a fear of flying which meant manager Jock Stein
had to replace him in certain matches abroad. Ahead of the first leg of a
European tie against Red Star Belgrade at Parkhead in November 1968, Stein told
Johnstone that if Celtic won by three goals he wouldn't have to travel to
Yugoslavia for the second leg. Johnstone went on to produce an outstanding performance
on the night at Parkhead, scoring twice and providing assists for the other
three goals in a 5-1 win.
Johnstone was capped 23 times for Scotland. He made his international debut on the 3rd
of October 1964 in a British Home Championship match against Wales. It was a 3-2 loss for
Scotland against Wales but Johnstone did get involved with Scotland's second
goal. His second game for Scotland was
against Finland where the scots won 3-1 at Hampden. However Johnstone performance in that game
was very poor and he didn’t get another game till 1966. That was a game where
he scored his first and second goal for Scotland in another loss to rivals England.
Days before the match against England in 1974 before the world cup Johnstone
was involved in an embarrassing moment where he took part in a drinking
session. In the early hours that day Johnstone
decided to go in out in a Rowing boat and he found
himself being taken out by the tide. A
coast guard had to save Jimmy and after that incident he was in the headlines of
many newspapers. Despite the
embarrassing headlines Johnstone went on to have an outstanding performance
helping Scotland to a 2-0 win.
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| Johnstone was one of Scotland's finest players and should have had far more than his 23 caps |
Johnstone died in March 2006.
Thousands of Celtic fans, and
fans of many other clubs, including those of arch-rivals Rangers paid tribute
to his memory outside Celtic Park on St Patrick's Day, the day of his funeral. There was also a minute silence between before
the Celtic vs. Dunfermline game. The
Celtic players also wore number 7 shorts in respect to Johnstone. In 2011 John McKenna a sculptor made a bronze
life sized statue of Johnstone at Viewpark memorial garden.
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| John McKenna's statue of Jimmy Johnstone can be found in Glasgow's Viewpark Garden |
For Celtic fans Johnstone remains a club legend one of the
finest Lisbon Lions and arguably the greatest Celtic player of all time.
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