Mo Johnston

For the British Army general, see Maurice Robert Johnston.

Mo Johnston

Personal information
Full name	Maurice John Giblin Johnston
Date of birth	13 April 1963 (1963-04-13) (age 48)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
	Milton Battlefield
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1981–1983	Partick Thistle	85	(41)
1983–1984	Watford	38	(23)
1984–1987	Celtic	140	(52)
1987–1989	Nantes	66	(22)
1989–1991	Rangers	100	(46)
1991–1993	Everton	34	(10)
1993–1994	Hearts	35	(5)
1994–1996	Falkirk	41	(6)
1996–2001	Kansas City Wizards	149	(31)
National team
1984–1992	Scotland	38	(14)
Teams managed
2005–2006	New York Red Bulls
2007	Toronto FC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Maurice John Giblin "Mo" Johnston (born 13 April 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a former football striker. Johnston began his football career with Partick Thistle in 1981 before moving to Watford in 1983. With Watford Johnston scored 23 league goals, made his international debut, and helped the team reach the 1984 FA Cup Final. After just over a season with Watford Johnston moved to Celtic where he became a prolific goalscorer with a return of 52 goals in 140 matches, winning the Scottish Cup in 1985 and League Championship in 1986. Johnston left Celtic for Nantes in 1987 before returning to Scotland with Rangers. In doing so he became only the second player to have played for both sides of the Old Firm since World War II (the first was Alfie Conn). After winning two Premier League titles with Rangers and scoring 31 league goals in 76 games Johnston moved to Everton. Johnston played out the rest of his career with Hearts, Falkirk and American MLS side Kansas City Wizards before retiring in 2001. Since his retirement Johnston has become a coach in MLS.

Johnston received his first international cap in 1984; he represented Scotland 38 times scoring 14 goals and appeared for his country at the 1990 World Cup. He was most recently the manager later and Director of Soccer at Major League Soccer club Toronto FC^[1] until he was fired on 14 September 2010.^[2]

Club career

Partick Thistle

Johnston started his career in 1981 with Partick Thistle and scored 41 goals in two and a half seasons there.

Watford

Johnston then moved on to English club Watford for a fee of £200,000 in November 1983, when they were struggling against relegation from the First Division a season after finishing second. However, his arrival revived their season as they recovered well to finish mid table, as he scored 20 goals in just 29 league games. He also helped them reach their first ever FA Cup Final, which they lost 2-0 to Everton. He began the 1984-85 season still at Vicarage Road and managed three goals in nine First Division games before returning to Scotland.^[3]

Celtic

Johnston scored 14 league goals in 27 games during his first season at the club. 1985-86 he scored 15 goals from 32 Premier Division games as Celtic won the Premier Division title. During the 1986-87 season Johnston scored 23 goals from 40 games, though this time it was Rangers not Celtic who were champions.^[3]

Nantes

Johnston moved on to French club Nantes in 1987 and scored 22 goals in two seasons there. After initially claiming he would never return to Scotland, Johnston reconsidered and appeared at a press conference to announce that he would sign for Celtic at the end of his contract with Nantes.

Rangers

In July 1989, after a financially motivated^[4] change of mind, Johnston opted not to return to Celtic (who had recently sold his replacement Frank McAvennie back to West Ham United) and instead joined Graeme Souness' Rangers. Just days before signing for Rangers, Johnston had appeared at a press conference at Celtic Park where he declared that "Celtic are the only club that I want to play for..."^{[citation needed]}

The move angered both Celtic and Rangers supporters. Some Rangers fans burned scarves and threatened to hand in season tickets over the signing^[5] while Celtic fans referred to Johnston as Judas and le petite merde.^[4][6]

Rangers' kitman protested by making Johnston arrange his own kit and withholding from him the chocolate bars dispensed to other players.^[4] He did however win over a lot of Rangers in November 1989 when he scored an injury time winner for Rangers against former club and bitter rivals Celtic. During his celebration he ran towards the East Enclosure, where he was engulfed by supporters he had won over by virtue of his excellent play and hard work on the pitch.

Everton

On 18 November 1991, Johnston signed to Everton for £1.5m, forming a three-man strikeforce alongside Tony Cottee and Peter Beardsley. He scored seven goals in 21 league games as Everton finished mid table in the 1991-92 campaign of the First Division to secure a place in the new FA Premier League. Johnston managed just 3 goals in 13 games as Everton finished 13th in the first season of the new Premier League. Despite the departure of Peter Beardsley to Newcastle United in the close season, Johnston remained out of the team during the 1993-94 campaign as manager Howard Kendall reverted to the traditional 4-4-2 formation and partnered Tony Cottee with Paul Rideout in attack.

In October 1993, Johnston was given a free transfer when attempts to sell him failed.^[7]

Return to Scottish football

Johnston returned to Scotland with Edinburgh club Hearts, making 31 appearances in his first season and scoring four goals. He found himself out of the team the following season^[8][9] and was given another free transfer in February 1995 after a long dispute over the settlement of his contract.^[10] Joining Falkirk, he scored one goal in the remainder of that season and five in the whole of the next season as Falkirk were relegated from the Scottish First Division.

MLS

Johnston made the switch to the United States and Major League Soccer in 1996, signing with the Kansas City Wiz (later renamed the Wizards). He scored 31 goals in 149 games for the club, adding a goal in 15 playoff games. He was part of the Wizards team that won the MLS Cup in 2000.

International career

Mo Johnston made his debut with the Scottish national team in 1984 and played regularly under manager Andy Roxburgh following his appointment in July 1986.

He had been expected to make the squad for Mexico 86 but was dropped by Alex Ferguson (caretaker manager until the end of the World Cup after the death of Jock Stein in September 1985) after a late night incident during Scotland's preparations for their play-off against Australia in November 1985, in which Johnston had disturbed a member of the coaching staff in his hotel room. In Ferguson's autobigraphy, Managing My Life, which was published 14 years later, Ferguson revealed that he had already warned Johnston about his conduct after he and team mate Frank McAvennie had bought drinks for themselves, fellow Scotland team mates and a group of young women in the hotel bar.

He played a part in getting Scotland to Italia 90 but retired from international competition after their early elimination. He briefly returned to the national side team for several Euro qualifiers in late 1991 but got injured against Switzerland and finally, in 1992 after scoring 14 goals in 38 caps, permanently retired from the national team. He was in the starting lineup for all three of Scotland's matches in the 1990 World Cup, scoring a penalty kick against Sweden.

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	28 February 1984	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Wales	2–1	2–1	BHC
2	12 September 1984	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Yugoslavia	5–1	6–1	Friendly
3	14 November 1984	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Spain	1–0	3–1	WCQG7
4	14 November 1984	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Spain	2–0	3–1	WCQG7
5	12 November 1986	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Luxembourg	3–0	3–0	ECQG7
6	17 February 1988	King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	1–1	2–2	Friendly
7	14 September 1988	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Norway	2–1	2–1	WCQG5
8	19 October 1988	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Yugoslavia	1–0	1–1	WCQG5
9	8 February 1989	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol	Cyprus	1–0	3–2	WCQG5
10	8 March 1989	Hampden Park, Glasgow	France	1–0	2–0	WCQG5
11	8 March 1989	Hampden Park, Glasgow	France	2–0	2–0	WCQG5
12	26 April 1989	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Cyprus	1–0	2–1	WCQG5
13	19 May 1990	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Poland	1–0	1–1	Friendly
14	16 June 1990	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa	Sweden	2–0	2–1	WCGC

Managerial career

Johnston retired after the 2001 season, and from 2003 to 2005 was an assistant coach to Bob Bradley for the MetroStars.^[11] After Bradley was fired with five games left in the 2005 season, Johnston was named interim head coach.^[11] With a record to end the season of 3 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie, he led the team to the playoffs and was promoted to the full-time position with re-branded New York Red Bulls after the season. On 27 June 2006, after a 2-3-7 start to the 2006 season, Johnston was fired.^[12]

On 22 August 2006, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE); owners of MLS club Toronto FC, announced Johnston as Head Coach beginning their inaugural 2007 season. Johnston has the dubious distinction of coaching Toronto FC through two records of futility: the MLS longest goalless streak at 824 minutes and the longest goalless streak to begin the season at 558 minutes.^{[citation needed]} Before the start of the 2008 season, it was announced that Johnston was moving upstairs to fill the role of Director of Football, though he retained the title of manager, while John Carver took over coaching duties at the time.^[13]

Mo Johnston has earned himself the name "Trader Mo" because in the first half of the first season alone he had traded 9 players.^[14] Throughout his MLS managerial career though, Johnston has developed a reputation of proficiency for drafting players, such as, Jozy Altidore, Marvell Wynne, Maurice Edu, Stefan Frei, O'Brian White, and Sam Cronin, among others.^{[citation needed]}

Johnston's tenure as Director of Soccer ended when he was fired with Head coach Preki on 14 September 2010.^[2]

Honours

• Watford
  • FA Cup:
    • 1983-84 runner-up

• Celtic
  • Scottish Football League:
    • 1985–86
  • Scottish Cup:
    • 1984–85

• Rangers
  • Scottish Football League:
    • 1989–90, 1990–91
  • Scottish League Cup:
    • 1990

• Kansas City Wizards
  • Western Conference (MLS):
    • 1997, 2000
  • MLS Cup:
    • 2000
  • Supporters' Shield:
    • 2000

References

1. ^ "Toronto FC: Roster: Player Bio". Major League Soccer. http://web.mlsnet.com/players/bio.jsp?team=t280&player=johnston_mo. Retrieved 27 March 2009. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b} Attfield, Paul (14 September 2009). "Toronto FC cleans house". The Globe and Mail (Toronto). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/toronto-fc-cleans-house/article1706805/. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Johnston Career Stats". Sporting Heroes. http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=41186. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Murray, Bill (2000). The Old Firm. Edinburgh: John Donald. p. 232. ISBN 0-85976-542-3. 
5. ^ Murray, Ewan (15 July 2009). "Why Mo Johnston still stirs emotions across Glasgow". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/10/maurice-mo-johnston-rangers-celtic. Retrieved 15 July 2009. 
6. ^ McGill, Craig (4 November 2001). "How Mo was sold out by a sports firm". Sunday Mirror (FindArticles.com). http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20011104/ai_n14543057. Retrieved 27 March 2009. 
7. ^ Colin Wood (9 October 1993). "Kendall cuts his losses on misfit Johnston". Daily Mail. 
8. ^ Alister Nicol (23 September 1994). "BETT ON IT - MO'S ON HIS BIKE; Mo Johnston dropped by Hearts and Jim Bett is in". Daily Record. 
9. ^ Iain King (11 December 1994). "HEART BREAKER FOR MOJO; pounds 3000 a week star trains with kids!; Mo Johnston has been dropped from the RESERVES and is training with the Tynecastle KIDS". Daily Record. 
10. ^ John Docherty (1 March 1995). "I'VE WON MY WAR SAYS MOJO; Maurice Johnston blasts Tommy McLean". Daily Record. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "The Big Interview: Maurice Johnston". London: The Times. 23 April 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article708486.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1. Retrieved 2010-07-19. 
12. ^ Mo's burning desire is extinguished
13. ^ Martin Rogers (28 March 2008). "The man with Toronto FC’s master plan". Yahoo Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news?slug=ro-toronto032808. Retrieved 2010-07-19. 
14. ^ Doyle, John (15 June 2007). "Meanwhile in Canada". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/aug/15/sport.comment2. Retrieved 2010-07-19. 

External links

• Toronto FC profile

Persondata
Name	Johnston, Mo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 April 1963
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death
Place of death