Leon Johnson

Football player infobox
playername = Leon Johnson


fullname = Leon Dean Johnson
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|5|10
cityofbirth = London
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=0
currentclub = Wycombe Wanderers
clubnumber = 4
position = Defender
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1998–2002
2002–2007
2007–
clubs = Southend United
Gillingham
Wycombe Wanderers
caps(goals) = 48 (3)
98 (2)
54 (0)
pcupdate = 18:08, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Leon Dean Johnson (born 10 May 1981 in London) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Wycombe Wanderers.

Career

Johnson came through the youth ranks at his first professional club, Southend United. Johnson made his professional debut when he started the Football League Trophy match for Southend at home to Cheltenham Town in 1999. Southend lost 1-0 to go out of the cup, and Johnson played no more part in the 1999/00 season. At the end of September in the 2000/01 season, Johnson came on as a substitute in the 1-0 win at Rochdale. By the end of January, Johnson had established himself as a decent defender and he played in a total of 26 games and scored his first goal in a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield at the Recreation Ground.

In the 2001/02 season Johnson made 34 appearances for Southend in all competitions. However, as Southend only finished twelfth in League One, cost-cutting meant that Johnson was released from the Roots Hall club on a free transfer. He spent time on trial at nearby club Gillingham during the close-season summer of 2002. Johnson impressed in several friendlies for the Gills who soon snapped him up on a full-time contract.

Johnson was not seen as first choice for the Gills at the beginning of his career. His first competitive appearance in a Gills shirt came in the middle of September as a late substitute for David Perpetuini. Despite making 20 appearances that season (18 in the league) as Gillingham finished a record high of 11th in the league. He never established himself as a first team regular, however and he only made 21 appearances the next season and only 8 the season after that.

It was, however, the 2005/06 season that saw Johnson stake a claim for a regular first team spot. Johnson made around 30 appearances in total, and perhaps would have made more were it not for three suspensions (two following red cards, one following his fifth booking of the season). Johnson scored his first goal for Gillingham against MK Dons on New Year's Eve 2005 in a 3-0 win at Priestfield when he headed home Andrew Crofts' flick on following Michael Flynn's long ball. He was released by Gillingham in May 2007 and signed for Wycombe the following month. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wycombe_wanderers/6240958.stm BBC Sport] ] Johnson was a regular in the Wycombe team throughout the season and was awarded at the end of the year with the Fans' Player of the Year Award.

References

ources

*soccerbase|id=16015|name=Leon Johnson