Johnson Bill Image 1 Southend United 1931

Description

Leigh-on-Sea, Essex born wing half Bill Johnson played for Leigh Amateurs from 1927 before joining local Third Division (South) club Southend United in April 1928, making his Football League debut against Brighton & Hove Albion that October. Although never a regular at The Kursaal, he got to play at Wembley Stadium in unusual circumstances. Their away fixture at Clapton Orient’s Lea Bridge Road stadium was moved to Wembley Stadium as Orient’s ground had been closed following a bad injury to a Torquay United player resulting from the close proximity of the pitch barrier to the playing surface.

While remedial work was carried out the East Londoners were forced to hire the Empire Stadium in order to stage two home games. The first resulted in an easy 3-0 win over Brentford in front of a healthy 8,000 plus crowd. However, the visit of Southend United attracted a crowd of only 1,916 (which must have looked very odd in vast stadium with a then capacity of 100,000) and Johnson played in a 3-1 defeat by Clapton Orient, albeit in a Third Division (South) fixture on 6th December 1930.

After 45 appearances for Southend United he joined Second Division West Ham United in the 1932 close season, and made 5 appearances for The Irons that autumn, before finishing his football career.