Jinky's song for Europe

Martin Hannan   15th Dec 2002


HENRIK Larsson may not know it, but Jimmy Johnstone has just paid his
successor in the Celtic No7 jersey the ultimate compliment. According to the
man voted Celtic's greatest-ever footballer, only Larsson of the current
crop at Parkhead would have got a place in the Lisbon Lions. "There's only
one problem," said Johnstone with that trademark mischievous grin, "who
would I leave out?"

Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace,
Chalmers, Auld, Lennox - which of the 1967 European Cup-winning side would
Larsson replace? Sitting in the front room of his neat home in Uddingston,
Johnstone ruminates for a second or two.

"It's a hard one - do you think Henrik can play right-back?" Again the grin,
and a cackle. "Make sure and tell Jim Craig I said that! Seriously, Henrik
would be in anybody's team at any time. And I bet he could play right back,
too."

The shock of almost day-glo red hair is gone now, and the always diminutive
frame has shrunk still further, but those bright blue eyes are sparkling.
The ebullient life force that is Jimmy Johnstone is defying the cruel
ravages of Motor Neurone Disease, and even though there are obvious physical
signs of his affliction, ten seconds in his company reduces you to tears -
of laughter. He is still an entertainer supreme.

To see Johnstone at his sublime best was to witness a footballing
phenomenon. Unsurpassed dribbling skills, a striker's eye for goal, and the
ability to cause mayhem on the wing and in the penalty box. A bit of a
temper, yes, and occasional publicity about his off-the field exploits made
him something we see so rarely in the modern game - a character. But could
he have played in today's more regimented times?

"Of course I would have been able to play in the modern game," he asserts,
"because if you have the ability you can fit in any time. It's just that I
would have insisted on changing things a lot. You see players getting the
ball and the first thing they do is pass it back inside again. I never
wanted to do that. I wanted the ball all the time, to show what I could do.

"And sometimes you see them let the ball run out - I hated that. If you had
a chance you would keep the ball in and have a go again, and again, and
again."

His next statement may have the Celtic diehards choking on their cornflakes:
"The nearest I've seen to that type of player is Peter Lovenkrands of
Rangers. Every time he gets the ball he looks a threat, as if he wants to go
at people and take them on. As for Claudio Caniggia - what ability he has on
the ball. For his age he has fair stamina too.

"I liked Bobby Petta when he was on his game. He had a dozen great
performances, skinning everybody, going by people. That's what I loved to
do, of course.

"I like people that commit defenders and go at them - there's no answer to
it. If you are running at people then you are drawing other players and
leaving gaps for the rest of the team to exploit. The modern players aren't
interested in that. They just seem to want to wait and then pass it back."

There's another aspect of modern football which mystifies Johnstone,
although he admires its exponents such as Celtic's Didier Agathe. "Didier
was immense against Celta Vigo. Going forward and back all the time like
that, to cover that ground, he must be a strong, strong guy. That was alien
to us - chasing back like that. Big Jock used to say to us to stay forward
and leave that stuff to the defenders.

"Very seldom did we chase back the way the modern player does. That was
unknown then and big Jock never asked you to do that - he was only
interested in forwards going forward.

"It's these individualists I love, the guys who are prepared to go and take
people on. That should be encouraged, but instead you get kids who try
things being told off."

People under a certain age can only look at videotape of Johnstone and the
Celtic of his era and wonder how good he and they were. Those of us lucky
enough to see him in mesmerising action know we'll never see his like again,
but Johnstone never tires of pushing a positive view.

"Yes, we won the European Cup and for 10 years we were a team to be reckoned
with in the top rank of Europe. Celtic can get back to that level, I'm sure,
although it will be a very long time before they do it with an all-Scottish
side."

Winning the UEFA Cup would be a good start, and Johnstone believes it's
possible. "I thought Celtic were outstanding against Celta Vigo. They were
under the cosh at different periods of the game. You expect that when you go
away from home with a slender lead. But when Martin O'Neill made the change
to 4-4-2, that was excellent - they had been getting a bit too much room and
when you give players like [Gustavo] Lopez any space at all they will
destroy you. They tightened up and needed to do so because Vigo had pace and
ability. It was a great result.

"Celtic have proved they can go away and do the business and they are very
hard to beat at Celtic Park. They could have scored more and I cannot see
how they cannot go all the way. If Martin O'Neill could achieve that then
people could start talking about him in the same breath as Jock Stein.

"Martin is very important to Celtic. Enough is enough - the issue of his
contract should be resolved as soon as possible, because the fans want to
know the future.

"You are not going to tell me that he's not Celtic daft. When you see him on
the telly, it jumps out at you - just like he's always jumping about, come
to think of it.

"I don't know what's happening behind closed doors, but to me and to the
fans it's easy - you love Celtic, you go in and sign on the dotted line.
That's what we want him to do, and if he does I think everything will fall
into place, and all the problems will be resolved."

At 58, Johnstone's mind is sharper than ever, and so is his tongue, which he
uses to flay the only thing which depresses him - the state of Scottish
football.

"We are a poor footballing nation at the moment," he said. "No disrespect to
Berti Vogts or Tommy Burns or the others in charge, but we are poor and we
have been getting a bloody nose for years. We are not good enough. It's as
simple as that.

"I'm sure there are good Scottish footballers out there, youngsters that we
need to get at the right time and point in the right direction, because it
is difficult for kids in this age with so many other distractions. They have
been saying it for 20 to 25 years - they're going to set up academies, they'
re going to do this or that, but it's not happened. It needs to happen, and
it needs to happen now.

"I wouldn't stop foreign players coming, though, because youngsters learn
from them. But we have to bring on our own players and the problem is that
everyone wants a quick fix - the youngsters themselves don't want to hang
around, either. I can see their problem - who would have wanted to be in the
reserve side when we were at the top?"

A tribute video featuring Johnstone on a nostalgic trip to Lisbon is due out
next year. It features Eusebio, the legendary Portuguese international and
star of the great Benfica side of the 60s. "He came back from America and
called me to say he would love to be in the video. He told me to go up to
the stadium and said he would meet me at the statue outside the front door.
We got there and the statue was of him. Imagine being able to say that -
meet me at my statue!"

Some may think him naive, but Johnstone convinces you with his assertion
that the trials of a revolutionary new treatment which he is undergoing in
New York could yet lead to a remedy for his hitherto incurable disease. "I
have always been positive and forward looking," he said, "and I always will
be. Somewhere out there is a cure and they'll find it and I'll be there.
There is always hope, and if they're looking for someone to try, I'll be
first in line."

The courage which drove him relentlessly on, over and through the tackles of
some of the toughest defenders is within him still. Jinky Johnstone is a
long way from being just a memory.