Controversial football player. Born in Glasgow, Johnston joined the Glasgow team Partick Thistle in 1980. He went on to briefly play for the English team Watford, before returning to Scotland to join Celtic for a record transfer fee of £400,000. He gained a reputation as a deadly striker, scoring 55 goals in 99 matches. After two years playing for Nantes in France, Johnston spectacularly returned to Scotland in 1989, signing for Rangers under the management regime of Graeme Souness (b.1953). Johnston was the first Roman Catholic to play for the team. Not only was this shocking in the religiously-divided football of Glasgow, but having played for Ranger's arch-rival, Celtic, Johnston was regarded as a traitor by the Celtic supporters as well as being disliked by many of Ranger's own supporters.
After two years, and much stress at Rangers, Johnston joined the Liverpool team Everton. However, he was soon back in Scotland, playing for the Edinburgh club, Heart of Midlothian. He spent a brief and unsuccessful period at Falkirk before moving to the USA in 1996 to play for Kansas City. He was rejuvenated with this team and, despite taking a new playing position in the mid-field, continued his goal-scoring success until his retirement in 2000.
Johnston was capped on 37 occasions for Scotland between 1984 and 1990, forming a goal-scoring partnership with Ally McCoist (b.1962). In 1990, Johnston gained recognition having scored against Sweden in the World Cup Finals.
