Mo Johnston

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Mo Johnston
Personal information
Full name	Maurice Johnston
Date of birth	April 30, 1963 (age 43)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Nickname	Mo Jo
Playing position	Striker / Head coach
Club information
Current club	N/A
Youth clubs
	Milton Battlefield
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1981-1984 1983-1985 1984-1987 1987-1989 1989-1991 1991-1993 1993-1994 1994-1996 1996-2001	Partick Thistle Watford Celtic Nantes Rangers Everton Hearts Falkirk Kansas City Wizards	85 (41) 38 (23) 99 (52) 66 (22) 76 (31) 34 (10) 35 (5) 41 (6) 149 (31)
National team
1984-1992	Scotland	38 (14)
Teams managed
2005-2006 2007-onwards	MetroStars/Red Bull New York Toronto FC
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Maurice Thomas "Mo" Johnston (born April 30, 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a former Scottish football striker, who made his name playing with Celtic and Rangers. He is currently the head coach for the newly formed Major League Soccer club Toronto FC.

Contents 1 International career 2 Club career 2.1 Early years 2.2 Nantes 2.3 Rangers 2.4 MLS 3 Managerial career

[edit] International career

Mo Johnston made his debut with the Scottish national team in 1984, and retired from international competition in 1992, after scoring 14 goals in 38 caps. He was in the starting lineup for all three of Scotland's matches in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, scoring a penalty kick against Sweden.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early years

Johnston started his career in 1981 with Partick Thistle and scored 41 goals in two and a half seasons there. He then moved on to English club Watford. After 23 goals in a season and a half and a trip to the FA Cup final with Watford, Johnston signed with Scottish team Celtic. Johnston scored 55 goals in his three years there.

[edit] Nantes

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.

[edit] Rangers

In July 1989, after a last minute change of mind, Johnston opted not to sign for Celtic and instead joined Graeme Souness's Rangers. This unprecedented move managed to anger some supporters of both Celtic and Rangers. Some Rangers supporters saw the signing of a Roman Catholic -- who was also a high-profile former player and supporter of their most bitter rivals -- as a betrayal of the club's traditions. While representations in the popular press emphasised the acrimonious reaction of some fans to Johnston's signing [1], other supporters viewed the signing enthusiastically, the one-upmanship of securing the coveted Johnston outweighing whatever other reservations might have existed on the grounds of religion or footballing enmity.

For Celtic fans, too, Johnston's signing provoked intense indignation amongst some fans. As with Rangers supporters, for the majority this may have been driven principally by partisan footballing loyalties, but views amongst some may arguably have been prompted also by a deeper sense of betrayal stemming from the decision of a 'Celtic-minded' former player and supporter to sign for the club's principal rivals. Just days before signing for Rangers, Johnston had appeared at a press conference at Celtic Park where he declared that "Celtic are the only club that I want to play for..." For much of the Celtic support, Johnston's subsequent change of heart transformed his status from returning hero to traitor. Consequently MoJo, as he was previously nicknamed, was referred to as Judas by Celtic fans. [2] [3].

Johnston was not the first Roman Catholic to sign for Rangers. However, his signing was by far the highest profile one during a period in which Rangers very publicly committed the club to a signing policy which took no account of religion. Since Johnston's signing, numerous Catholics have played for Rangers. Equally, Johnston's signing was one of only a small number (and by the far the most prominent) of instances of indirect transfers from one Old Firm club to the other, and was bound to prove controversial, irrespective of the player's religion.

Johnston scored 46 goals for Rangers in 100 games in major competitions and helped them to two of their nine consecutive Scottish titles secured in the period 1988-1997. In 1991, he moved to English club Everton, scoring ten goals in two seasons. Johnston returned to Scotland with Edinburgh club Hearts and then Falkirk, scoring just five and six goals respectively in season and a half with each club.

[edit] MLS

Johnston made the switch to the United States and Major League Soccer in 1996, signing with the Kansas City Wiz (later renamed the Wizards). He scored 31 goals in 149 games for the club, adding a goal in 15 playoff games. He was part of the Wizards team that won the MLS Cup in 2000.

[edit] Managerial career

Johnston retired after the 2001 season, and from 2003 to 2005 was an assistant coach to Bob Bradley for the MetroStars. After Bradley was fired with three games left in the 2005 season, Johnston was named interim head coach. He led the team to the playoffs and was promoted to the full-time position with re-branded Red Bull New York after the season. On June 27, 2006, after a 2-3-7 start to the 2006 season, Johnston was fired. On August 22, 2006, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE); owners of MLS club Toronto FC, announced Johnston as Head Coach beginning their inaugural 2007 season.[4]

Preceded by Bob Bradley	MetroStars Head Coach 2003-2005	Succeeded by Position Abolished
Preceded by Position Created	Red Bull New York Head Coach 2006	Succeeded by Richie Williams (Interim)
Preceded by Position Created	Toronto FC Head Coach 2007-Present	Succeeded by Incumbent

Toronto FC - Current Squad
1 Sutton | 2 Boyens | 3 Braz | 4 Reda | 5 O'Brien | 6 Hemming | 7 Cancela | 8 Edu | 9 Casey | 10 Eskandarian | 11 Brennan | 12 Buddle | 13 Pozniak | 16 Chencinski | 17 Nagamura | 19 Asante | 20 Lombardo | 24 Gray | 33 Robinson | - Gonsalves | - Guzman | - Lumley | - Mulrooney | - Smith | -  West | Coach: Johnston

	Scotland squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Leighton | 2 McLeish | 3 Aitken | 4 Gough | 5 McStay | 6 Malpas | 7 Johnston | 8 Bett | 9 McCoist | 10 MacLeod | 11 Gillespie | 12 Goram | 13 Durie | 14 McInally | 15 Levein | 16 McCall | 17 McKimmie | 18 Collins | 19 McPherson | 20 McAllister | 21 Fleck | 22 Gunn | Coach: Roxburgh