Johnstone and Henderson.

[KerPlunk]

The Huge Stature of Two Small Men (1972)

At least twice a year, and probably more often, the two giant sides of Scottish football face each other in the city where football fever is a continuing epidemic, and as two small men wearing the number seven shirt, one in a hoped shirt and one in royal blue, set off down their respective wings, about 80,000 raucous Scotsmen begin to cheer. These two men are Willie Henderson of Rangers and Jimmy Johnstone of Celtic.
Wherever they have played they have caused great excitement, and in so doing they have strengthened the case for wingers in an age when the scarcity of good ones has caused their very value to be questioned. Henderson and Johnstone have more in common than their footballing ability. They are both small men, 5ft 5 and 5ft 4 ½ respectively, and both are hungry for success and its rewards, an attitude which probably stems from their working class backgrounds.

Willie Henderson was born on 24th January 1944 in Caldercruix, a village in the heart of industrial Lanarkshire. Jimmy Johnstone was born in the same year, not so very far away in the village of Viewpark, on 30th September. Both these communities offer a youngster little chance to better himself, so when both were given that chance through their football talent, they grabbed it with both hands.
The stereotype of the dour Scotsman fits neither – both are great extroverts – Henderson prefers practical jokes while Johnstone’s high spirits lead him into pop songs at any opportunity. This extrovert trait is often found in small men, a need to be big, to compensate for their physical stature.
It is a trait , of course, which also applies to their football. When they are on top of their game, they take obvious delight in hurling themselves at big defenders, dancing around them at will, - with the ball seemingly glued to their feet – and making their opponents look clumsy.

Both have had their ups and downs in senior football, although in different ways. Henderson exploded onto the scene as a 17 year old prodigy when he displaced Alex Scott – at that time Scotland’s right winger – from the Rangers first team. Since then he has had more than his share of troubles. In 1964 his form slumped alarmingly due to a bunion on his foot. An operation removed it, but as Henderson himself admits, left a psychological scar which took a long time to disappear. From that time, good seasons were less in evidence. His play was erratic and injuries seemed to come much more regularly than before.
By 1970, many people were saying he was becoming injury prone. Others said he had developed too quickly and that he had become a spent force by the time he was 23. Then, in season 1970 – 71, he re-established himself with all his old brilliance, which he maintained throughout the season. He said later that much of the trouble had been psychological, and pointed to the new management at Ibrox, - in particular coach Jock Wallace – as the biggest help in sorting out his problems.
“I was beginning to give up, I thought I was never going to get back, but Jock has made a terrific difference. I used to take my problems outside the dressing room onto the training field and from there to the pitch. Now, I talk things over with the coach, he’s a good listener and a good advisor. You’ve no idea what that did for me. Since then, we’ve had some real chest beating sessions and I can go into a match and concentrate on the job to be done. That was the biggest trouble before, losing concentration , thinking about things that had nothing to do with football.”

Unlike Henderson, Johnstone was not an immediate success after he signed in 1961. Not that his natural ability was ever in doubt – far from it. It was his temperament. He was moody, hot-tempered and in his first five seasons of first team football with Celtic, he was often in trouble with referees and management.
He was also too much of an individualist, never seeming to want to part with the ball. None of these things lessened the excitement of his play as far as the fans were concerned, but they had manager Jock Stein in despair at times. In 1970, when Johnstone had once more fallen out of favour, Stein said, “Johnstone has given me more trouble than any other player in my time at Parkhead.”
Curiously, Johnstone began to change when he was 26. In season 1970-71, he became much more of a team player and his fiery temper dampened down. He said “In the past I couldn’t stop myself getting into trouble and my behaviour let a lot of people down.”

Being two of the greatest players in Scottish football and playing in the same position, Henderson and Johnstone have always been held up for comparison. Of course the question of who is best cannot be answered because both play in contrasting styles. Henderson likes to beat his man at speed, while Johnstone works in a more intricate way, sallying up to his opponent and then darting quickly.
Eddie Mulheron, the Clyde left-back, gives his opinion, “One is as good as the other when it comes to beating you, but I would say that Henderson is more dangerous near goal. He is so fast that he doesn’t give an opponent time to cover up – once he’s past you, he’s away. Johnstone is less deadly. He’ll beat you and then wait for another opponent to come in, then he’ll beat him and so on. For entertainment value though, I’d put them both in the same bracket.”
As a contrast, Celtic keeper Evan Williams sees Johnstone as the greatest of them all and his praise of his team-mate is not as biased as would first seem. At the time, he had just returned to Scotland after four years with Wolves, where he had played against the best in England.After a handful of games for Celtic, he said of Johnstone, “The wee man is greater than Georgie Best. I know they call Best the king, but he can’t do things with a ball that Jimmy can. Best can be marked out of a game, I’ve seen it happen, but I’ve seen Johnstone with three or four players around him and then get out of trouble by sheer ball control.”
Scottish fans have often wondered why this incredible skill has not been more in evidence whenever Johnstone has played for his country, for he has never been as successful in the dark blue jersey as his rival. This again is a by-product of his complex personality. He has something of a persecution complex and has often retreated into his shell whenever made to feel unwanted. In particular, he has been attacked by cries of “We want Henderson !” from Rangers fans in the crowd when he has been on the Scotland flank. This does nothing for his confidence and when it happens he gives the impression he does not want to play for Scotland.
This apparent disinclination has been the cause of more than one major row over the years. In 1967 Johnstone was on his way to Wembley to join his team mates for the4 match against England, when he turned back at Edinburgh, claiming he was unwell. This episode prompted Jock Stein to say “It now seems clear that Johnstone cannot be relied upon. Bobby Brown should give careful consideration in the future when selecting players on whom he can depend.”
Johnstone’s dread of flying has also caused problems with his manager, an aversion typified in an incident in 1969 which caused another breach between him and Stein. Celtic were due to play Red Star Belgrade in the first leg of a European Cup second round match at Celtic Park. Before the game, Stein jokingly said to Johnstone, "If we win by four clear goals, I won't ask you to travel to Belgrade." Johnstone took Stein literally, however, he went out and played the game of his life as Celtic won 5-1. Came the time to travel for the second leg and Johnstone refused to go.
His fear of flying is geuine, but in general, Johnstone does not like leaving home. A few years ago he set out for a holiday in Spain by car with his wife. He was to cross the Channel by ferry and then motor through France. However, on reaching the south of England, he decided not to continue and headed for Blackpool, where he spent his holiday fortnight.

Henderson shares this insularity with Johnstone, in the respect that neither has followed the trail of other top Scots to England. Both have asked to leave their clubs on several occasions but have always withdrawn their requests some time later. Most Celtic and Rangers players earn as much as they could in England anyway, and neither has been tempted to make a splash in a larger pool that has drawn so many other Scots south. It is doubtful whether their individual attitude to the game would have survived the more methodical, efficiency-minded climate of the English game. England sought their genius, but England would have insisted they conform.
At Highbury or Old Trafford, at Everton or at Wolves, these little men could have become bigger in the game; but they would both have regarded the cost too high for the extra rewards that their share of an advertising market dominated by George Best and Bobby Moore would have brought in.

In effect, what Henderson and Johnstone have cannot be taught Ask them about their attitude to the game and you will have to be satified with a blank look for an answer. To them, football is about having a ball at your feet and expressing yourself the only way you know how. As they return to the dressing room after a game, neither could give a graphic, detailed account of any particular move in which they had been involved.

When their time is up, the rewards they taken from football are easily balanced by the contribution they have made during their careers and football has no right to ask any more from them.



Farewell Jinky.
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