Jinky Jimmy Johnstone

That arm in the air goal celebration..........

If I close my eyes I'm back there again watching him... thankyou and * bless you, Jinky

 

Jimmy Johnstone
Appearances: 515
Goals: 130
Debut: Kilmarnock 6-0 Celtic; 27/03/1963

The fact that Jimmy Johnstone is the only one of our top 20 goalscorers to have a statue outside Celtic Park tells its own story – for Jinky had more than a few strings to his bow and goalscoring was just one of them.

When it comes to extolling the virtues of players who have left their mark on football with their inimitable style, it is impossible to exclude Jimmy Johnstone from any kind of esteemed company.

Jinky's feints and tricks have passed into the club's folklore and he was the very definition of a mercurial talent, and while his ability with a ball marked him out as a unique player, his skills were harnessed for the good of the team.

He won nine titles, four Scottish Cups, five League Cups and, the pinnacle of them all, the European Cup in 1967.

His career, though, was littered with highs and there was a plethora of games where he just literally tore teams apart – sometimes seemingly single-handed.

Among them was Red Star Belgrade when, with a 1-1 half-time score, Jock Stein told Johnstone, who had a chronic fear of flying, that if Celtic won by four clear goals then he wouldn’t have to travel to Belgrade – Jinky ran amok and scored twice in Celtic’s 5-1 master-class.

His courage on the field was matched off it when he battled bravely for a number of years with Motor Neurone Disease, before sadly passing away in 2006. The iconic statue outside Paradise will remind future generations of a truly extraordinary player.

 

Would loved to have see the wee man in his prime.

Went to Ian Rush testimonial, we got spanked 6-0, but a game before it with legends Jinky was playing and scored in a win.

 

Was working at a Dutch guys house on Saturday and his father was over from Holland. He was saying that his father nearly made it pro in the 60s. He played with some Dutch legends in his younger days. I told him I support celtic and the old boys face cracked a smile and he said "JINKY" And the son translated and said everybody knew JINKY. Outstanding player he said. Old boy was smiling away. I just thought wow.

 

My uncle (* rest his soul) showed me a picture that he had (other uncle has it now) showing him, Jinky and Tommy Burns in germany with my uncle wearing hoops scarf and covered in bandages after having drunken accident with a tram.

 

Wow where did the time go .
A true legend and an inspiration to many of us .

 

If he peaked today he would be valued £200 million

 

2 of our greatest.

 

Time marches on , gone but never forgotten.

YNWA .

 

I am of a certain vintage being blessed to remember this football genius. It got me thinking of how much more genius he would show on these modern billiard board pitches we have today. He could turn defenders inside out playing on tatie fields so many memories pure magic.

 

It was 53 years ago today, on November 13, 1968 that Jock Stein made, and reluctantly decided to keep, a promise to Jimmy Johnstone.

The deal was made at half-time in a European Cup second round first leg against Red Star Belgrade at Celtic Park.

Jock Stein’s legendary man-management skills came to the fore when he pounced on Jinky’s fear of flying and made him an offer that only Jimmy Johnstone could accept, and only Jimmy Johnstone could keep up the other end of the bargain.

With the Hoops locked at 1-1 with Red Star, the manager took Johnstone aside for a quiet word in that half-time break, promising the winger that he wouldn’t have to fly to Yugoslavia if Celtic won the first game by at least four clear goals – never has a half-time team-talk to one player changed a game so much, and it was down to Jinky’s dread of flying.

One instance that encapsulates the Wee Man’s fear was described by fellow Lisbon Lion, Jim Craig as he recalled an episode from 1967. Craig said: "We had just played in Alfredo di Stefano's Testimonial in Madrid. Jimmy and Agnes were leaving the hotel to go on holiday in Benidorm. Remember we were in Madrid, and Benidorm was an hour's flight away.

"As I helped Jimmy and Agnes with their bags into the taxi at the hotel, the wee man turned to me, wished me a good holiday myself, and then turned to taxi driver and said 'Benidorm driver!' "

This was the apprehension that Jock Stein pounced on and used to Celtic’s advantage, and, it has to be said, to Red Star’s fatal disadvantage.

The Hoops had already endured a tough first round against St Etienne, losing 2-0 in France before turning things around with a magnificent 4-0 victory at Celtic Park in front of 75,000 – although the first goal didn’t arrive until the 45thminute and the tie was only put to bed properly in the 87th minute when Joe McBride made it 4-2 on aggregate.

While all this was going on, Red Star sat out a walkover in their first round tie against East German side, Carl Zeiss Jena – one of three walkovers featuring Eastern Bloc countries in that round.

Not that Red Star needed a walkover, they were a top class side as could be witnessed by their first half at Celtic Park on November 13 when a 39th-minute goal from Vojin Lazarevic rattled the Hoops who had taken a third-minute lead thanks to Bobby Murdoch.

Just little more than six minutes after that equaliser, Jock Stein came up with the leftfield brainwave and had a word with his diminutive 24-year-old right-winger.

To say it worked would be an understatement - Jimmy’s fear of flying put the fear of * into Red Star.

He single-handedly destroyed the Yugoslav side in a second-half performance of such virtuosity the visitors didn’t know what had hit them.




Just two minutes after the restart, Johnstone himself put a down payment of the first part of the deal by putting Celtic 2-1 ahead.

Duly motivated by Stein’s offer, that goal was only the start of a stunning second-half virtuoso performance as Johnstone inspired his team-mates to even greater heights.

Other goals came from Bobby Lennox in the 50th minute and Willie Wallace in the 75th, but there were only 15 minutes left to get that possibly elusive fifth goal that would give Celtic, not to mention Jinky, that four-goal cushion.




Those 15 minutes shrank in a heartbeat to nine minutes as the clock seemingly speeded up, then, in a typical waltz of wing wizardry, Johnstone threaded himself and the ball through a host of Red Star players before rasping the ball into the net for the goal of the game.

There were still nine minute to go, though, then the hands on the clock seemed to have lead weights tied to them as far as Johnstone was concerned.

Everyone of a green and white persuasion in the over 67,000 souls inside Paradise was more than happy with the comfortable 5-1 lead, maybe even Jock Stein, everyone that is except Jinky, as only he and Stein knew what the 5-1 score meant, and the Wee Man knew that even a consolation goal for Red Star would leave him inconsolable.


As those final minutes edged down, Johnstone was like a man possessed, appearing in his own area to clear any danger when he wasn’t creating it at the other end.

In the dying minutes he defended as though his life depended on it and, thankfully, got the 5-1 win he needed, then, amid the celebrations at the final whistle his bemused team-mates heard him shouting hysterically: ‘I don’t have to go! I don’t have to go!’

Despite the overtures of Jock Stein, and, believe it or not, the Red Star hierarchy, Jinky demanded his reward and didn’t fly out for the return game.

It was the day after the Celtic Park victory when Jimmy reminded his manager of his promise and eventually got him to keep it.

Yet, a fortnight later, among the Red Star officials, who wanted their own support to witness his amazing talent, there was genuine disappointment that Johnstone hadn’t travelled.

Fellow Celt, John Hughes even said: “They couldn’t believe he wasn’t there, they thought he was in the hamper!”

 

Inter Milan spokesman: We will pay £100,000 for Jimmy Johnstone
Stein: For which match.

Brilliant comment from Big Jock

 

It’s amazing that Jinky played in a record breaking season that still hasn’t been beat.
The record is 196 goals in one season.