| William Johnston |
 William Johnston was born on Saturday, 29th April, 1865, in Girvan, South Ayrshire. The (12st 0lbs) forward first appeared as a guest for Thistle in December, 1897. Aged 32, he made his first known appearance on Saturday, 4th December, 1897, in a 9-1 defeat away to St Bernard's in the SFL First Division. William scored his only known goal for Thistle on Monday, 3rd January, 1898, in a 6-1 defeat away to Rangers in the SFL First Division. That goal came in his third (and last known) appearance for the club. His club-list included Govanhill, Third Lanark, St Bernard's, Bute Casuals and Partick Thistle. William died on Thursday, 21st December, 1950, in Finnieston, Glasgow, aged 85. |
| William Johnston's Summary Totals |
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| League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Competitive | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| All Games | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
 This left-sided forward was a junior cup winner with Govanhill in 1883 before stepping up to Third Lanark, where he was a popular club member who was said to possess a fund of quiet humour despite earning the sobriquet of 'William the Silent'. "He sees many more things than he speaks about" said the Scottish Referee; how very mysterious! Following caps for the Glasgow FA, William made his full international debut at 2nd Hampden Park in February 1887, scoring in a 4-1 win over Ireland which helped Scotland become champions of Britain that season. 1889 was an outstanding year for the player, as he won the Scottish Cup with Third Lanark before earning his second Scotland cap, this time in a tough nil nil away to Wales in Wrexham. Once again, the Scots won the British title. Completing a wonderful round of three in April 1890, William's third cap - again at 2nd Hampden - was earned against England in a 1-1 draw. Not only did this complete his triptych of caps against all home nations, a third British title was won, albeit it had to be shared with the Auld Enemy on this particular occasion. William was made a life member of Third Lanark in 1895 and honoured with a benefit match against Hibernian in 1896. By then, the 31-year-old had moved to Rothesay and was playing with Bute Casuals. In a surprise move by the Partick Thistle committee, William was drafted in for a few appearances deep into the winter period of season 1897-98. Thistle, in their new Meadowside home, were playing top-flight football for the first time. Perhaps the rationale was that William carried the necessary first class experience, but a 9-1 defeat at St Bernard's and a 6-1 defeat at Rangers suggested it wasn't so easy, although William did at least get a consolation goal in his last match in front of 6,000 at Old Ibrox. In Rothesay, William worked as a slater, and survived a fall from a roof which left him with a badly broken arm. In 1909 he was reported as training Bute Athletic. He returned to Glasgow soon afterwards and spent the rest of his life in the city. William is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists → |
| (WS/AM) |
3 caps, 1 goal
d. Glasgow, 1950 (85)
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