JOHNSTON: I’M PROUD TO BE BACK
CHRIS JOHNSTON checked out of football but Peter Murphy kept checking in.
So when the decision came as to where he would find enjoyment again in the game, winger Johnston knew Annan could be the only destination.
The 26-year-old was praised last year when he bravely opened up on his struggles coping with lockdown and isolation.
He ran out for Clyde in October but played his final game of the season four weeks later, saying: “I just knew I wasn’t myself ”.
But even though he slipped off the football radar, his former boss at Annan never let him slip off the personal one.
Asked if he feels it was the right decision to take time away from the game, the ex-Kilmarnock star said: “Definitely, I needed to. It was just lockdown and a few personal things in my family happened – it just got too much.
“I knew I needed to take a wee bit of time out, get myself right. Now I’m over all that and I’m better for it, I have come out the other side much stronger.
“I’m proud of myself for doing that as well.
“I’m determined to get my career back on track.
“I’ve got aims to get back playing full-time, I want to get back playing as high as I can. I just want to give it a crack and see what happens.
“The gaffer was desperate to get it over the line. He kept in contact for the last year and I told him I really appreciated that.
“When I did have a few of my issues, he was good with me. I knew it was the right place to go and get back enjoying it.
“That was the big thing for me and I said that to the gaffer – he was checking in on me not as a football player but as a human being first and I just knew I had the respect for him for that as well.”
Johnston returns to Galabank “like a different person”, determined to challenge at the right end of the table this season.
He said: “I’m out the other side a better person, more mature, more grateful, now I just want to get the head down and work hard.
“If somebody were to talk to me if they were struggling, I would always be open to tell my story, I am not embarrassed by it. I will tell them they will get through hard times and they don’t last forever.”
Aron Lynas and his Albion Rovers team-mates will be out to stop Johnston scoring for a third match running to make it five home games unbeaten.
And defender Lynas said: “With the team we have this year I believe can go on and have some real success in this league.”