Morrison Johnny Image 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1937

Description

Belvedere, Kent born centre forward Johnny Morrison played junior football for Bostall Heath in 1928 and after a trial at Luton Town in 1929 he played for Callender Athletic in 1930 joining Tottenham Hotspur as an amateur in 1931 and was initially loaned out to nursery club Northfleet in 1932. Having signed professional forms with Spurs he made his Football League debut in a Second Division match at Chesterfield in April 1933, scoring in a 1-1 draw, but he had to wait until February 1935 for his next opportunities, playing 3 times before the season end as Spurs were relegated from the First Division.

However he broke into the team from September 1935 and soon scored goals galore, bagging 9 hat-tricks and also scoring 4 goals against Bradford Park Avenue in September 1936. He was the club’s leading goalscorer for four seasons running with 28, 35, 25 and 11 goals respectively between 1935-36 and 1938-39, and by the time his career was cut short by World War Two’s outbreak, he had scored 104 goals for Spurs in 155 appearances, being as of September 2017 only one of 17 centurion goalscorers for Tottenham.

NB The photograph was taken at the Everton v Tottenham FA Cup 5th round tie on 20th February 1937, played at Goodison Park, the match finishing a 1-1 draw. Tottenham won the replay 4-3 at White Hart Lane two days later (it’s also possible this was the game at which the photograph was taken). Johnny Morrison watches on as Ted Sagar attempts a save, the Everton player is their powerfully built full back Billy Cook.