Campbell Johnny Image 1 Aston Villa 1896

Description

Centre forward Johnny Campbell was born in Glasgow and began his football career with Glasgow Benburb in 1888 and Possil Hawthorn in 1889 before joining Glasgow Celtic at Easter in 1890 where he made his debut in a Glasgow Cup tie at Parkhead when Celtic defeated Battlefield 7-1 on September 20th. He won two Scottish League Championship titles in 1892-93 and 1893-94 as well as the Scottish Cup in 1892 scoring two of the goals in a 5-1 win over Queen’s Park.

He moved to English club Aston Villa in the summer of 1894 and won the League Championship in season 1895-96. Villa retained the League Championship in 1896-97 and Campbell scored in the club’s FA Cup Final triumph against Everton to win The Double. Just days later he had the honour of scoring the first goal at Villa Park, he had also scored the first goal at St James’ Park (Newcastle United’s ground) after its inauguration on 3rd September 1892. Celtic won 1-0 and 6,000 watched the game.

He returned to Celtic in May 1897 after 43 goals in 63 Villa appearances and won another Scottish League title in season 1897-98 and a further two Scottish Cup winners medals in 1899 and 1900. He moved to Third Lanark in August 1903 after 109 goals in 215 appearances for The Bhoys and helped The Warriors to win the Scottish League title in his first season with the club.

Campbell was capped 12 times by Scotland between 1893 and 1903. He scored four goals, including two against Ireland in March 1900. He captained Scotland against Wales in 1902. He also played 5 times for The Scottish League between 1893 and 1902 scoring a hat-trick against The Football League in March 1902. He retired in April 1906.