Jimmy Johnstone

1944 — 2006

Football Player; Inspired by the great wing wizard Stanley Mathews Jimmy Johnstone dribbled a tennis ball round milk bottles as a young boy in his Viewpark home in Lanarkshire. At Celtic Park Johnstone went from ball boy to star player to ‘greatest Celt of all time’. His twists and turns mesmerised opponents and earned him the nickname ‘Jinky’. When Johnstone was on form few players could subdue his skills and the only option for many tormented defenders was to kick him out of the game. With a fiery temperament Johnstone was often a handful for Celtic manager Jock Stein.

Jinky scored 129 goals in 515 competitive games for Celtic and won the Scottish League nine times, the Scottish Cup four times and the Scottish League Cup five times. He was a thorn in the flesh of Internazionale in 1967 when Celtic lifted the European Cup and he also played well against Feyenoord in the final of 1970. Jinky put in world class performances against Real Madrid in the di Stefano testimonial match of 1967 and against Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup tie at Celtic Park in 1968. He won 23 caps playing for Scotland and had an important part to play in Scotland’s 2-0 victory over England in 1974.