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City Database
Tom Johnston
Tom Johnston enjoyed just over 6 years as City manager, including 2 promotion campaigns as he took us from the near the foot of Division 4 to as high as 5th in Division 2.
A canny Scot, his teams were built on free transfers and cheap signings. 2 of his best ever signings were Ted MacDougall and Phil Boyer who he signed for a combined £15,000 and were to prove to be a prolific strike force, especially after their moves to Bournemouth. Both had left City by the time promotion we gained to Division 3 in 1971.
MacDougall later played Manchester United, West Ham and Scotland whilst Boyer played for Southampton, Norwich and England.
In each of the next 2 seasons we avoided relegation on goal difference. In 1974, we gained promotion to Division 2 for the only time in our history. The following season, with the team shrewdly strengthened with 4 key signings for £35,000, we gained promotion to Division 2.
The key signings were backed by a back 4 that went a Football League record 11 games without conceding a goal. Behind them was Graeme Crawford, the star of the team, a free transfer signing from Sheffield United, many would say his performances were key to avoiding relegation in both 1972 and 1973. Another of Johnston’s shrewd signings was Ian Holmes, also a free transfer from Sheffield United whose powerful runs (and goals) from midfield turned many a game in City’s favour.
Johnston also presided over the dawning of a youth policy. We had 3 players playing together for an England Youth team, unfortunately only Brian Pollard of the trio really made the grade as a professional. A little earlier, Chris Topping, who was to make 412 league appearances for City, had made the number six shirt his own and they were followed by Cliff Calvert who went on to play in Division 1 with Sheffield United.
It was a solid, rather than spectacular, team where all 11 players were the key to success.
Johnston left in January 1975, immediately after losing to Arsenal in an FA Cup replay, to become General Manager at Huddersfield.
After his departure, we suffered successive relegations and were back in the basement division. The team had grown old together, Wilf McGuinness was unable to rebuild it on a limited budget, given Johnston’s track record, it would have been interesting to see how he would have gone about it, certainly he couldn’t have done a worse job than McGuinness.
However, those 6 years since our promotion from Division 4 have proved to be the longest spell we have ever had outside the bottom flight.
Looking back through, many of the players who played under him noted his "Scottish" attitude to money when it came to contract negotiations.
Many older reader will argue, with just cause, that Johnston was City’s best ever manager. He built a successful team on a shoestring budget and is the only manager to lead City to 2 promotions. When the remnants of the team that he’d built returned to Division 4 in 1977, it was 6 seasons after Johnston’s first promotion, to this day, City have never spent longer outside the bottom division of the Football League.
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