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| Jackie Johnson |
 John Johnson was born on Sunday, 11th December, 1921, in Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester. The forward temporarily transferred to Donald Turner's Thistle in September, 1944, from his parent club, Stockport County. Aged 22, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 9th September, 1944, in a 4-2 win at home to Clyde in the Southern League. That day, Jackie became a member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 13 goals on Saturday, 30th June, 1945, in a 2-0 neutral-venue win against Hibernian in the Summer Cup. That turned out to be his last game for the club, having appeared as a Jag on 33 occasions. His club-list included Stockport County, Partick Thistle, Millwall, Tonbridge, Margate, Canterbury City and Dover. Jackie died in October, 2003, in Kent, aged 81. *
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 Jackie Johnson was a World War 2 guest player from Stockport County. His first match (of 33) was on 9th September 1944 (the 1944-45 season) where the 22-year-old winger scored in a 4-2 victory over Clyde in a Southern League match at Firhill. Jackie’s undoubted legacy at Firhill was his scoring proficiency in the Summer Cup of 1945. He didn’t score in the opening 4-4 draw with Dumbarton at Firhill, with a Douglas Stockdale brace, and goals from Bill Shankly Joe McGeachy getting the Jags’ goals. He scored both Thistle goals in the 2-1 win over Dumbarton at Boghead. He scored in the 3-1 win against a strong Hearts side at Firhill, with Maurice Candlin scoring the other 2. Hearts won 2-1 at Tynecastle, with Maurice again scoring the Thistle goal to secure the tie. Jackie scored the remaining 3 Jags’ goals in the tournament, with a 1-0 win over Morton in the Semi-Final at Hampden in front of a 25,000 crowd. A press report said “Johnson scored direct from an inswinging corner that should have been a goal kick.” Ces’t la vie. He again scored 2 in the Final 2-0 victory against Hibs at Hampden, with a 27,996 crowd seeing Thistle lift the Cup. Jackie was the club top scorer in the 1944-45 season with 13 goals. The Millwall online website describes Jackie’s tenure there:
In January 1957 he returned to the Garden of England and signed for Margate, making his debut in a 4-1 defeat at Snowdown. He made 15 appearances for The Gate scoring 3 goals. During the 1957-58 season he joined Canterbury City, and then on to Dover Athletic where he played the latter part of the 1957-58 and also for the 1958-59 seasons. When he was in the Army during World War 2 he played a representative match for the Northern Command against the Scottish Command at Dens Park in October 1943. When he retired from the game Jackie ran pubs in Hastings and Stowting, then became a postman before retiring to Sellindge, near Folkestone in Kent. On account of his service during WWII, Jackie is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned →. |
| (DMAC) |
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