Johnston Billy Image 2 Oldham Athletic 1933

Description

Edinburgh born inside left Billy Johnston played Scottish junior football for Dalkeith Thistle before joining non league Selby Town in 1919, from where he signed for First Division Huddersfield Town a year later, making his Football League debut against Newcastle United in February 1921, scoring in a 3-1 defeat. He was never a certain first choice during his four seasons at Leeds Road, he had not been picked for the 1922 FA Cup Final, and only played 8 times in his final season as Huddersfield won the League Championship, and when he moved to Stockport County in the summer of 1924 he had scored 7 goals in 50 games for The Terriers.

He started slowly at Stockport in a struggling team, they were relegated in 1926, but in 1926-27 he scored 25 goals including hat-tricks against Chesterfield and Ashington, which bought him to the attention of First Division Manchester United who signed him in October 1927 after 27 goals in 74 matches for The Hatters. He had two spells at Manchester United with two seasons in the first division,  either side of a two year period at non league Macclesfield Town, scoring 41 goals in 71 matches for the Cheshire County League club, returning to (by now) Second Division United in 1931 for a further season. In all he scored 27 goals in 77 appearances for United before joining Oldham Athletic in 1932. His three seasons at Oldham, where he converted to the half back line, saw him score 8 goals in 70 appearances, he then  joined non league Frickley Colliery in 1935 before his eventual retirement.