Mo-ment that rocked game to foundations
Every Scot of a certain age can remember exactly where they were when they heard that Mo Johnston had signed for Rangers.
It happened 33 years ago today and remains the most sensational transfer in the history of the Scottish game.
Not only had the striker performed a U-turn on his deci sion to return to Parkhead after two years in France, he also joined their arch-rivals, smashing their pol ic y of not signing Catholic footballers.
Then Celtic midfielder Peter Grant once claimed that losing out on Johnston sent the club on a downward spiral, one which helped Rangers to emulate Jock Stein’s feat of winning nine successive titles. Richard Gough – who along with Ally McCoist won all nine medals – agrees.
Gough said: “It was a hell of a brave move by him. People talk about how brave Graeme Souness was for signing him but Maurice showed real guts. I couldn’t imagine a dyed-in-the-wool Rangers man like Coisty going to Celtic, for example.
“I can’t think of anyone else in his situation who’d have had the balls to do what he did at that time.
“Celtic, who had just beaten us in the Scottish Cup Final, thought they had him but there was a problem when it came to coming up with the money. Bi l l McMurdo, Maurice’s agent, alerted Graeme and the deal was hijacked to our benefit.
“Peter Grant knows what was going on at Parkhead better than I do but he’s right – it took them years to get over losing out on Mo.
“They didn’t win another trophy until 1995, lost good players and made mistakes with managerial appointments until Tommy Burns steadied the ship.
“We were dominant at that time and Maurice was terrific – he was our top scorer in his first season and finished one goal behind Ally in his second.
“There were no problems in the dressing room. He fitted in because it was full of good players and he was another one.
“The r e wa s some resistance from our fans over the signing but his last-minute winner in the first Old Firm game at Ibrox got everyone onside.
“People talk about how Kenny Miller signed for Celtic after having been a Rangers player but he didn’t need to have a bodyguard going everywhere with him for a year – Maurice did.
“At that time, Rangers hadn’t bought a high-profile Catholic player since the Second World War. Now no one bats an eye when it happens and a lot of that is down to Maurice.”
Gough bel ieves that snatching Johnston from their rival was genius.
He said: “It was a classic Souness move – demoralise the other team by taking a player they thought was theirs and make us stronger.
“I remember the previous season ended with Scotland playing England and Chile in the Rous Cup. Maurice had been on fire for the national team during our qualification for Italia 90.
“Before the Scottish Cup Final, Celtic had announced he would be rejoining them and he was pictured wearing the Hoops.
“Anyway, as everyone was leaving Mo said, ‘See you next season, Goughie!’ and I told him I was looking forward to booting lumps out of him again.
“Then he said he’d be playing alongside me – I thought he was just at it. I only discovered that he’d signed for us later.
“We were already at Il Ciocco, our Italian training camp, when he arrived by helicopter. At his first meal we’d set up a wee table in the corner for him on his own with bread and water on it as a wind- up but he just laughed. As a Springburn boy, he was too wide for any nonsense!”