Johnston couldn’t put kids through Old Firm hatred

MO JOHNSTON would not have signed for Rangers had his children been old enough to understand what was going on at the time and admitted he still cannot go anywhere in the world without being reminded of what remains Scottish football’s most controversial transfer.

In a rare visit to Scotland and an even rarer interview, the now 53-year-old opened up about how his life was, and to a certain extent remains, affected by his move to Celtic collapsing, which began a chain of events that led to him becoming the first high-profile Catholic signed by the Ibrox club.

Johnston, who has lived in North America for the past 20 years, revealed that while he knew everything was going to change after shaking hands with Graeme Souness, he could not have envisaged the importance of the events, which took place in July 1989, and that he would not have crossed the divide if it meant putting his family through so much hatred.

Johnston said: “If I’d had a family then, I don’t know if I [would have] done it. So that was different. My daughter was only six months old but, looking at it now, I don’t know.

“How often do I get reminded of it? A lot. All over the world you always see people from Scotland, both Celtic and Rangers fans. It’s unbelievable. I get it all over; Disneyland, Vegas, Los Angeles. Everywhere. It was Mickey Mouse who came up to me. Actually, funnily enough it was Minnie.

“I knew it would impact on me but I didn’t realise how it would impact on me in such a way. It is still spoken about, it is still on everyone’s minds, everybody wants to know who I support.”

Johnston only visits Scotland once a year and on this occasion he will be in the Sky studio as a pundit for Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

He is looking forward to the match and claims that he will be one of the few neutrals at Hampden Park.

Johnston said: “I don’t support anyone, honestly. I grew up a Celtic fan, but do I want Celtic to win, do I want Rangers to win? It doesn’t bother me.”

Johnston does not need any reminders regarding how he is viewed by the Celtic support, even 25 years after he left Rangers.

He even refused an invitation to check out his old club’s training facility, not because he didn’t want to go but, rather, he knew his mere presence would reflect badly on the manager at the time. Johnston said: “I met Neil Lennon about two-and-a-half years ago around Christmas time, and Celtic were preparing for a European game.

“He invited me to come up to Lennoxtown but I didn’t want to put him in a position. I would have felt uncomfortable about that. I would just have watched training and kept my mouth shut.

“I still have respect for the situation. It’s okay Neil saying to me to come up but he still thinks of me as a Celtic player. He’s not thinking about what went on at Rangers and everything else, how the Celtic fans feel about me.

“I don’t feel uncomfortable at Murray Park. I went there two years ago to see Ally McCoist. I also went to a game and did the raffle on the pitch.

“No Rangers fan I have met has been disrespectful but a couple of Celtic fans have.”