The day Johnston won over Ibrox fans
THERE were Rangers fans who apparently wouldn’t cheer any goal scored by Mo Johnston.
And then he got the last-minute winner in an Old Firm game at Ibrox, a superb low right-foot shot which crept into the bottom corner, and the former Celtic superstar ran to the Copeland Road stand to celebrate.
Go watch the footage now. There is nobody with their arms folded doing the old Presbyterian thing of trying their best not to enjoy something. Instead, everyone seems to be having a jolly good time, utterly uncaring of what school the match-winner had gone to.
That was Johnston’s second derby as a Rangers player. The first came at Parkhead, the reception he received was the expected one, and it ended 1-1. A few months later and Johnston was the hero.
“Going into the first match against Celtic, I looked at it as another game for me,” he said. “I am still playing, still on the field, do you know what I mean? So, for me, it was water off a duck’s back. It was 100 per cent.
“But after I scored against Celtic, Graeme Souness pulled me aside and said ‘listen, where are you going tonight?’ I told him I was actually planning on going to a party in Kirkintilloch, a fancy dress party. He just looked at me and said ‘no you’re no!’
“But in the end they doubled up on security and I ended up going to the party. What did I dress up as? I’m not telling you. But everything changed that day, even walking around the place, because you hear the whispers.”
What might be forgotten by some is that Johnston’s Rangers career, rather ironically, got off to a quiet start.
The team began the season slowly and the new signing, while still headline news, found it difficult to score even if the rest of his play had been up to standard.
“I’d come close a few times but I was beginning to wonder myself if I ever would. But then I scored against Aberdeen from a great ball from Trevor Steven.
“It was funny because big Alex McLeish was staying down in Glasgow after the game and he was walking to the parking lot outside Ibrox. Big Alex said his wee mate with him was a Rangers fan and he’d said to him; ‘as far as I’m concerned it was 0-0 today’. But things started to turn a little big after that.”