Red or blue, almost every supporter inside Anfield today will have at one stage or another dreamt about scoring the winner in a derby. David Johnson did it for real in the 1970s, scoring the decisive goal for both sides.
Brought up in the Gateacre area of the city, family influences ensured Johnson’s initial footballing allegiances were for those in red. “My brother Johnny was a mad Liverpool fan who took me to Anfield,” the now 62-year-old explains.
“I bypassed the old Boys Pen and just went straight into the Kop. Like the rest of the 25,000 people who stood there, I idolised Bill Shankly and absolutely believed him when he said he would turn us in to a ‘bastion of invincibility’.”While worshipping Shankly’s team that rose out of the old Second Division to become champions of England in the 1960s, David was also becoming a decent striker. “I played for Childwall Boys. I also played for my local school – that was the most competitive football back then. We got to the Echo Cup final and I then got chosen for the regional schoolboys side.”
His progress didn’t go unnoticed by either club in the city, with both making their interest known. “Everton took me to Bellefield [their former training ground]. It was during the 1966/67 season. England had just won the World Cup and Alan Ball and Ray Wilson were Everton players. I met them and watched them train. I was 14 and immediately thought: I want to be here.”
His choice may have been understandable, yet his family was stunned. “We were avid Reds. One of my brothers christened his son ‘Ian St John Johnson’. That demonstrates the passion our family had. Later on that poor lad – my nephew – had to watch me play for Everton with a name like that. They all came around to it after a few years.”
While those closest to him continued to visit Anfield, and simultaneously went to watch Johnson in a blue shirt, the striker stopped supporting the Reds. “Everton paid my wages so they became my club. Whenever we faced Liverpool at any level I wanted us to win. My brother – the biggest Red in the family – supported me first and Liverpool second. That was how he got his head around it.”
Johnson's smooth progress up through the ranks and into the Everton first team led to a senior debut in January 1971. November of the same year saw him line up against Shankly’s team. His inexperience – he’d just turned 20 – didn’t prevent him from providing the decisive contribution.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” he says of his 71st-minute winner. “Gwladys Street End. Gary Jones crossed from the byline. I headed the ball towards goal but Ray Clemence managed to tip it on to the post. Fortunately the rebound came right back to me and I volleyed it in.
“The whole stadium erupted. I went into a different zone. You can't really take in what a moment like that means. I don't recall much of the game after that. I just wanted the final whistle to go there and then because I wanted to be the match-winner. I didn't want somebody else getting on the score-sheet.” Nobody else did as the contest finished 1-0 to the home side.
“I thought I might have got some stick from the Liverpool fans I encountered in the weeks and months afterwards, but I never did.”
Despite that winning goal, David’s time at Goodison Park was destined to be short-lived. Everton boss Harry Catterick quickly decided he wasn’t the type of striker he required. “I was 5ft 11in, maybe 12 stone. In those days most managers wanted 6ft 4in, 15 stone centre-forwards to compete with giant centre-halves.”
Shankly thought differently. When he enquired about Johnson’s availability, Everton refused to contemplate doing business. “It was a complete no-no. Harry was never going to let me go there. Ipswich, with Bobby Robson in charge, then made a bid. Harry told me to go sign for them because I’d never play in his team again. Bobby wanted to have two mobile strikers. He said he’d make me one of the country’s best. Going there was a no-brainer.”
Shankly's detemination to recruit Johnson wasn’t dampened by him relocating to East Anglia. Within a few months of his transfer, Ipswich officials were answering phone-calls from Anfield. “Bobby [Robson] said he’d waited two years to get me and wasn’t going to lose me so soon. After initially suffering from homesickness, I went on to have a great time at Ipswich. But not getting to play for Shanks is one of the few regrets I had in my career.”
During four years at Portman Road, Johnson netted three times against the Reds. He also became an England international while helping the club to impressive league finishes of fourth, fourth again, third and sixth. No surprise that those at Anfield once again bid for his services, along with Tottenham, in August 1976.
A fee of £200,000 was paid to bring him back to Merseyside, and finally pulling on the red shirt was everything he'd hoped for. “It felt 100 times better than the blue of Everton or Ipswich because I’d been a Liverpool fan. Ian St John, Roger Hunt and Ron Yeats were why I loved football in the first place. I'd gone from singing You'll Never Walk Alone to being an opposition player hearing it, to finally having it sung for me. It felt amazing to come full-circle.”
Returning to play at Goodison while wearing red guaranteed him an even more hostile reception than his team-mates. “But I could understand why Everton fans felt that way,” he says. When the sides met in April 1978, with just 13 minutes gone, he picked up possession and headed towards the Gwladys Street End. “I’d love to say I hit a crisp shot into the top corner. Being honest, though, it bobbled past [goalkeeper] George Wood’s hand on the way in. The volume of booing went up even more after that. I think some Evertonians still boo me now! Again I wanted the contest to end there and then as I wanted to be the only goalscorer.”
That was how it finished. If Evertonians thought that having their former striker find the net against them once was painful, they faced more of the same two years later. David admits he has no recollection of this second effort, which came in a 2-1 victory along with a Phil Neal penalty. “That 1980 game is a complete blank, it’s totally slipped my mind. Strangely, I do remember scoring in a night-time derby at Anfield and madly sprinting away only to find out it had been disallowed.”
Johnson netted 78 times in 213 games for the Reds over nearly six years. Although not always a regular in the side due to injury and the intense competition for places upfront, he was successful. “I picked up 18 medals – not all winners – but still 18. To have been involved in one of the club’s greatest eras is very, very pleasing.”
He left in August 1982, returning to where he had started – Everton. “If I’m being totally honest, the move was a massive mistake for them and me.” The transfer led to one final derby experience that November, which there is no chance of him – or anyone else – forgetting.
“Howard Kendall mentioned to me that he was going to put Glenn Keeley in the team against Liverpool. I’d played with Glenn at Ipswich and thought the derby might be too much for him. I told Howard there was a good chance that Glenn could get sent off.”
A shirt-tug on Kenny Dalglish did lead to Keeley[s dismissal and the numerical advantage was fully exploited by Bob Paisley's team, Ian Rush scoring four and Mark Lawrenson getting another in a 5-0 victory. “I remember Phil Thompson and Alan Hansen winding me up as the goals went in. Poor Scouser Tommy is one of my favourite Liverpool songs. Whenever I’m at a game I sing it all the way through until it gets to the ‘Rush scored one, Rush scored two’ part. Then I have to stop. I just can’t take it.
“Derbies mean so much to fans and I understand exactly why. Winning is probably one of the best feelings a player can have. Losing – particularly a heavy defeat – is absolute agony and something you always remember.”
This article first appeared in the LFC vs Everton match programme in September 2014
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