Mo Johnston

Maurice John Giblin Johnston (born 13 April 1963) is a Scottish football player and coach.

Johnston, who played as a forward, started his senior football career with Partick Thistle in 1981.

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

He moved to Watford in 1983, where he scored 23 league goals and helped them reach the 1984 FA Cup Final.

Johnston then moved on to English club Watford for a fee of £210,000 in November 1983, when they were struggling against relegation from the First Division a season after finishing second.

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.

In 1984 he joined Celtic and scored 72 goals in 128 matches, won the Scottish Cup in 1985 and the Scottish league championship in 1986.

Johnston received his first international cap for Scotland in 1984, when he was at Watford.

He began the 1984–85 season still at Vicarage Road and got three goals in nine First Division games before returning to Scotland.

Johnston scored 14 league goals in 27 games during his first season at the club.

In 1985–86 he scored 15 goals from 32 Premier Division games as Celtic won the league title.

During the 1986–87 season Johnston scored 23 goals from 40 games.

Johnston signed for Nantes in 1987.

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.

He returned to Glasgow with Rangers in 1989, becoming the second player to cross the Old Firm divide since World War II (Alfie Conn was first) and the first open Catholic to play for Rangers since World War I.

Johnston won two Scottish league titles with Rangers, scoring 46 goals in 100 games.

He later played for Everton, Hearts, Falkirk and American Major League Soccer (MLS) side Kansas City Wizards.

In July 1989, 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's Rangers.

From the early 20th century onwards, Catholics had not been knowingly signed by Rangers, nor employed in other prominent roles as an 'unwritten rule'.

Johnston was "their first major Roman Catholic signing".

He was the highest-profile Catholic to sign for the club since the World War I era, though other Catholics had signed for Rangers before.

The move angered both Celtic and Rangers supporters.

A handful of Rangers fans burned scarves and threatened to hand in season tickets over the signing but attendances held firm while Celtic fans referred to Johnston as Judas.

Rangers' kitman Jimmy Bell protested by making Johnston arrange his own kit and withholding from him the chocolate bars dispensed to other players until he scored against Celtic.

He won over a lot of Rangers fans in November 1989, when he scored a late winning goal in an Old Firm derby match.

He scored 14 goals in 38 appearances for Scotland, including one at the 1990 World Cup.

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.

One of his goals in the 1992-93 season came in a 3-0 away win over Manchester United in the second game of the Premier League season.

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.

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 and was given another free transfer in February 1995 after a long dispute over the settlement of his contract.

Joining Falkirk, he scored one goal in the remainder of that season and five in the next season as Falkirk were relegated from the Scottish Premier Division.

In 1996 Johnston moved to the United States and Major League Soccer, signing with the Kansas City Wiz (later renamed the Wizards).

After retiring as a football player in 2001, Johnston went on to coach in MLS.

He was most recently the manager and later Director of Soccer at MLS club Toronto FC before he parted company with them on 14 September 2010.

Johnston scored three goals in 13 games as Everton finished 13th in the first season of the new Premier League, losing his place in the first team to new signing Paul Rideout.