Tommy Johnston
Personal information
Full name Thomas Bourhill Johnston[1]
Date of birth (1927-08-18)18 August 1927[1]
Place of birth Loanhead,[1] Scotland
Date of death 4 September 2008(2008-09-04) (aged 81)[1]
Place of death Shoalhaven,[1] Australia
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1949–1951 Kilmarnock[3] 19 (17)
1951–1952 Darlington 27 (9)
1952 Oldham Athletic 5 (3)
1952–1954 Norwich City 60 (28)
1954–1956 Newport County 63 (46)
1956–1958 Leyton Orient 87 (70)
1958–1959 Blackburn Rovers 36 (22)
1959–1961 Leyton Orient 93 (51)
1961 Gillingham 35 (10)
Total 425 (256)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Bourhill Johnston (18 August 1927 – 4 September 2008) was a Scottish professional footballer who scored 256 goals from 425 appearances in the Scottish and English Football Leagues.

Johnston was the Football League Second Division top scorer for the 1957–58 season with 43 goals for Leyton Orient and Blackburn Rovers.[4] He was Orient's all-time top scorer and in 1999 was voted their greatest player of all time.[5]

He had a withered arm, a legacy of an injury received while he was a miner, and always played with this arm bandaged.[2] Johnston and his family emigrated to Australia in 1972, and he died in Shoalhaven, New South Wales, on 4 September 2008.[5]

The south stand at Orient's Brisbane Road ground was named the Tommy Johnston Stand in his honour, and his ashes were interred there.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Tommy Johnston". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Jackman, Mike (1994). Blackburn Rovers: the official encyclopaedia. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 132. ISBN 1-873626-70-3.
  3. ^ "Kilmarnock player details: Johnston, Tommy". FitbaStats. Bobby Sinnet & Thomas Jamieson. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  4. ^ Ross, James M. (20 June 2019). "Football League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1947–92". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Tommy Johnston". Leyton Orient F.C. 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008.
  6. ^ "The Happy Wanderer returns home". Leyton Orient F.C. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.


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