Jimmy Johnstone Biography
James Connolly "Jimmy" Johnstone is possibly one of the best soccer players to have ever lived. He played for Celtic FC and made over 500 appearances. He was a fans favourite and was voted Celtics greatest ever player in 2002!
Career
Jimmy was born on the 20th September 1944 in Viewpark, South Lanarkshire (Scotland). He was the youngest of five children, and grew up at the family home on Old Edinburgh Road. It was directly across from Robertson Park, the home of local Junior side Thorniewood United FC.
After being spotted by Celtic and Manchester United scouts at age 13, he chose to sign with Celtic. He spent the majority of his career with Celtic, and was possibly the best player this club has seen.
In "Jinky's" later career he played for a few other clubs such as San Jose Earthquakes, Sheffield United, and Elgin, but he will always be remembered as the legend from Celtic.
His nickname was "Jinky" as he took the ball past players for fun. He was only 5 feet 6 inches tall, but he had an incredible dribbling ability. He would make it look like the defenders were not even there.
Jimmy Johnstone also had incredible vision to go along with his dribbling skills. Even more so, however, what shocked most fans and opponents was his skill at staying on his feet. Many players would try take him down but, somehow, he always managed to stay up.
One of the great moments in Jimmy's career was being a part of the famous "Lisbon Lions" who defeated Inter Milan in 1967.
Jimmy Johnstone's Death
Photo of Jimmy Johnstone's statue by
Johnstone was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in November, 2001. To raise awareness of the disease, he released a version of the song "Dirty Old Town" with the famous Scottish band, Simple Minds.
Sadly, Jimmy died of his disease in March of 2006. It was one of the hardest deaths soccer had ever dealt with as he was such an iconic figure. The last person to make a phone call to him was Willie Henderson, his arch-rival from Celtic's rival club, Rangers FC. This came to a shock to many people as they did not know the two players had become close friends.
To pay tribute to this great player, a statue of Johnstone was made in 2011 in the town where he attended school. While he is dead, his legacy still lives on to this day. Many people celebrate his life on March 17th of each year as that was when his funeral took place. He will always be remembered for his time at Celtic where he will be forever a legend.
