All would play important roles in the Links Park club's gradual improvement in fortunes, as they followed up a win in the 1972–73 Forfarshire Cup with a best-ever finish of 3rd in the 1974–75 Scottish Division Two campaign, just one point behind winners Falkirk. To finish near the top of the table was particularly important that year as the leagues were reconstructed, with only the top six being placed into the new 'First Division', which was actually the middle level between the Premier and the Second. Montrose also recorded their longest unbeaten league run of 15 matches, and set their record margin of victory with a 12–0 win over amateurs Vale of Leithen in the 1974–75 Scottish Cup.[5]
The contribution of Johnston (who by now had successfully graduated from Jordanhill College to become a Physical education teacher)[3] in Montrose's strong period had not gone unnoticed, and in summer 1976, after over 200 matches for the Angus club, he was approached by Partick Thistle, who had just achieved promotion to the Premier Division. the Jags manager Bertie Auld stated in his autobiography that he had to persuade Johnston to make the step up, as the player was unsure if he had the quality needed.[9] After signing for a fee of £20,000, his spell with the Glasgow club was short, encompassing little more than one season due to injuries[10] and a loss of trust from manager Auld, himself a combative character who eventually concluded that Johnston had been correct in his self-assessment of being not good enough for the top division, or at least not sufficiently confident in his own ability to make an impact.[9]
However, the midfielder did contribute 14 league appearances to the team which finished 5th in the 1976–77 Scottish Premier Division, playing alongside the likes of Scottish internationalsAlan Hansen, John Hansen and Alan Rough, as well as Jim Melrose and Doug Somner.[11] He was in the team for Thistle's first win in the new Premier Division (beating Motherwell),[12] and two of his three goals were scored against Rangers, one in a defeat at Ibrox and the other to open the scoring in a 4–3 win at Firhill,[13] with the third strike a winner against Kilmarnock.[14] After a period out injured and a loan to third tier Brechin City,[4] Johnston returned to Montrose in 1979, with the club having just been relegated to the bottom division.
Return to Montrose and later years
Johnston spent three further seasons with Montrose and two with Stenhousemuir, who were playing at the same level and closer to his home and workplace in the Central Belt, amassing 128 further league appearances between the two clubs, before returning to the Juniors with Viewpark-based Thorniewood United in his mid-30s prior to retiring.[4] He was made a member of the Montrose Hall of Fame upon its introduction in 2004.[15]
The high-level appearance totals would almost certainly have been greater had Johnston not absented himself from cricket between 1976 and 1979 to concentrate on football.
Personal life
Johnston became a secondary school PE teacher by profession; he had already embarked on this career when his profile as a footballer began to increase in his mid-20s, and spent many years teaching at Stonelaw High School in Rutherglen. He never became the department's principal teacher nor served as the school's football coach, those responsibilities falling to colleagues Alan Byrne[22] and Iain Burns[23] respectively, but was involved in youth cricket coaching.
