The Signing of Maurice Johnston

Fran Sand Dancer

Fran Sand Dancer

Well-Known Member
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
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I was ecstatic, a real get it up them moment, I don’t think you can put into words the scale of the shock. He was also a far better player after coming back from France which made it better.
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
Bit of both to be honest getting one over them was brilliant but to be honest he was a fantastic football player
 
It was a surreal moment. I remember going into a pub just as the news broke. A table of guys were just drinking in stunned silence. Not sure if it was a bluenose pub or not but there was just a sense of disbelief. I was delighted as I knew we were getting a top player. It turned out just fine!
 
This is my opinion.
It was like a punch to the gut. Remember back then we had not had a Catholic sign in the then modern times. It was a betrayal of our culture and there were many many supporters flinging their scarf away and swearing they would not set foot back in Ibrox.
It also was a huge betrayal to them as such a high profile player who had been paraded to the media as the great hero returning.

Times have changed since then and it is rightly so accepted that we sign the best we can.

I was of the opinion that it was wrong. Not for MoJo being a Catholic but for who he had played for before. I suppose I was also hoping he would fail in some way and was very disappointed that Super did not get more game time with him being there.

My opinion as I have said.
 
Everyone was in a state of shock for days maybe even weeks.
My recollection- and I was 13- was that the shock turned to anger on both sides pretty quickly. The exception was in Rangers fans my age. We were buzzing. Too young to be deeply caught up in the religious or political storm. The GIRUY was obvious abs immediate and it killed their joy at winning the Scottish Cup stone dead and ruined their summer.
It was a glorious time that arguably some of their fans have still to recover fully from.
The reason me and my mates were excited was because he’d become an unbelievable striker and we couldn’t wait to see him paired with Super Ally!
 
I think religion aside, a massive part of it was who he is and where he came from. It wasn't just a change in football, it was the whole GIRUY element. For Mo as well, what a decision and choice he made.
 
Loyaljohn said:
This is my opinion.
It was like a punch to the gut. Remember back then we had not had a Catholic sign in the then modern times. It was a betrayal of our culture and there were many many supporters flinging their scarf away and swearing they would not set foot back in Ibrox.
It also was a huge betrayal to them as such a high profile player who had been paraded to the media as the great hero returning.

Times have changed since then and it is rightly so accepted that we sign the best we can.

I was of the opinion that it was wrong. Not for MoJo being a Catholic but for who he had played for before. I suppose I was also hoping he would fail in some way and was very disappointed that Super did not get more game time with him being there.

My opinion as I have said.
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He wasn't just a Catholic

He was a roman Catholic. He was one of them.

To be 100 per cent genuine
Do I think he was a Catholic in the true sense of the word. That he holds dear all the beliefs that devout catholics do.

No.

But he was wan
 
Gaz9 said:
I think religion aside, a massive part of it was who he is and where he came from. It wasn't just a change in football, it was the whole GIRUY element. For Mo as well, what a decision and choice he made.
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That's what I'm getting at.

You say

His religion.

Do you really think he believes in jesus the redeemer who died for his sins
 
here we are 30 odd years on and the enablers still froth at the mere mention of his name, even the younger ones who weren't even around, they have simply never gotten over us taking him from right under their noses
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
I was talking about this with my son last night, I was 15 when this happened I live in a town infested with rhabids, they hated him with a passion for what he'd done to them you could sense the hurt as well defo worth it just for the GIRUY.
 
I was at Torbett Towers when he played against them for the first time for Rangers. They were whipped up in to an absolute frenzy of rage which was off the charts. Which was nice B-D

To be fair to him he actually came out to warm up on his own happy to take their abuse. He could have walked out surrounded by team mates but he chose to come out himself

He missed a couple of good chances though.
 
I was told we were going to sign him a few days prior to the story breaking but even the guy who told me thought it was a load of shite, so I didn't really think about it.

On the day, I'm in getting the morning paper and the headline on the front page of the Sun screamed, "GERS SIGN MO".

The story ran on several pages and I ended up taking the day off work to see how events would unfold.

It was an incredible signing and I was delighted. I did know a few people who didn't renew their season tickets and never went back while he was with us.
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
It’s what I’ve always called my generations JFK moment.

Everyone back then knew where they were when they found JFK was shot.

Every single bear alive when we signed him remembers where they were when the news broke.

It was huge.
It headlined the 6 o’clock news (national news, not Scottish news) on the BBC
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.















To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc















Chs in adPM vance.
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Remember it like it was yesterday.
Souness had given us all a clue about a surprise big signing in advance and boy did he deliver what he promised.
To this day and beyond they have never got over it and they never will.
There were many doubters about Mo playing for us but a lot of that was soon forgotten when he scored a late winner in his first Old Firm game.
He proved to be a clever signing and as I said he still lives in their heads and always will.
 
My wee bitter mentally challenged mate at the time told me about the signing when I was at work and he was surprised that I was delighted about it.

Johnston was a good striker and when I pointed out to my mate that we would now sign anybody and would beat 9IAR the look on his face was priceless.

It really was a massive kick in their stones.
 
Gaz9 said:
OK. Off to bed son. You've had enough.
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I don't drink.
You think he's a roman Catholic.
I think he was a shagger (I know his daughter socially who was the result of a 5 minute experience in an airport with a Air hostess, Cheryl).

He's not a roman Catholic
 
Colinstein69 said:
I was told we were going to sign him a few days prior to the story breaking but even the guy who told me thought it was a load of shite, so I didn't really think about it.

On the day, I'm in getting the morning paper and the headline on the front page of the Sun screamed, "GERS SIGN MO".

The story ran on several pages and I ended up taking the day off work to see how events would unfold.

It was an incredible signing and I was delighted. I did know a few people who didn't renew their season tickets and never went back while he was with us.
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I was told on the Thursday night.
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
He was a brilliant striker and it totally destroyed Celtic and their fans. I didn't give a toss what religion he was and I still don't.
 
If you read the book, Ten Days that shook Rangers, there is an excellent chapter all about it.

I was at Parkhead for his Old Firm debut, in a blue jersey, and I have never ( and I am now 66) witnessed the level of hatred unleashed upon any player like I saw and heard from the home support that day.

I also knew the guy that ran the Ticket Office then, who told me that the number of season tickets returned because of his signing was precisely two! The widespread outrage by Rangers supporters was the message the media wanted to portray, not the reality.

It was, however, an absolute dagger to the heart of the Celtic support.

Personally, I thought he was a great signing for us (and NOT our first RC player of the 80's) and his workrate that first season for us was second to none.
 
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Bearsden Bear said:
I also knew the guy that ran the Ticket Office then, who told me that the number of season tickets returned because of his signing was precisely two! The widespread outrage by Rangers supporters was the message the media wanted to portray, not the reality.
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That is an outstanding bit of info there.

Nowhere near the same but I remember plenty of folk claiming they wouldn't celebrate Kenny Miller goals and that idea seemed to go out the window the second he volley'd it by Boruc.
 
Purplestar said:
My wee bitter mentally challenged mate at the time told me about the signing when I was at work and he was surprised that I was delighted about it.

Johnston was a good striker and when I pointed out to my mate that we would now sign anybody and would beat 9IAR the look on his face was priceless.

It really was a massive kick in their stones.
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100%.
 
Celtic fans moaned that we never signed catholics but when we do they unfailingly point it out and give the players a hard time

You never sign Scottish catholics : we did and you lot abused them.

You never sign practising catholics : we did and you lot abused them.

You never sign celtic-supporting catholics: we did and you lot abused them.

You never sign Irish catholics : we did and you lot abused them.

Your captain will never be a catholic : we did then then you abused him

We've had Scottish, English, Irish, Italian, Croatian, Argentinian, American, German, Colombian, Spanish , etc, etc catholic players and they've ALL been singled out and abused by Celtic fans.

Some have had death threats.

Even when our catholic ex-players come back to Scotland they are universally welcomed as returning heroes by us but universally abused and vilified by Celtic

So the people who get wound up the most when Rangers sign a Catholic are Celtic fans and it seems when Rangers sign a Catholic it actually annoys Celtic fans more than when they dont sign Catholics.

And, incidentally, who also have a reputation for singling out and abusing Jews?

That would allow for a far greater grievance, a chip on each shoulder and a martyr complex all rolled into one.

Yet somehow its Rangers fans who are the bigots?
 
Celtic finished in 5th place the following season on the same points total as Motherwell and Hibernian, but sneaked 5th place on goal difference.
 
I was 12. Rangers daft, football daft, went to a lot of the games at the time.
I hated it, hated him. Nothing to do with the religious nonsense.
I had watched him score for them against us, and he seemed to love it. How could we sign a player who had played for them? Plenty of family and friends were losing it due to the RC angle and it took a fewagood while to get over that.

I went to the pre season game at Broomfield and he got a good reception, I still hated him! We played them at the cesspit , he had a few chances to score, but he seemed to me to miss on purpose. I hated him!

He started knocking a few goals in, and played quite well. I supposed he was ok as a player, but hated him. Remember, I was 12.

Then, he scored that goal against them at Ibrox. The noise the celebrations, the look of sheer joy on his face. I quite liked him. The look of terror on every tims face... I bloody loved him.

Football is a simple game!
 
Bearsdenloyal said:
I genuinely don't think he is.

His lifestyle alone, pre marital sex etc means he doesn't follow the teachings in the bible
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I don't think you've grasped the fundamental concept that all Christian denominations must accept as truth, which is that is that every one of us are fallen in some minor and or major way. Why on earth do you even care if MJ follows any faith tradition now anyway after all these years. Utterly bizarre.
 
I am a Civil Servant and it was announced over the tannoy in work he had signed: It was that big.I was 23.
I was not in favour at the time but that was because of his behaviour at the LC final previously. The fact he was RC meant nothing to me but i was aware of the religious aspect.
We could now buy who we wanted and today we don't care about the religion of any player we signed. I could not even tell you who is what and i don't care
Them? It destroyed them.
Two things. The fact they can tell us the religion of any player we sign show it is all about religion with them yet we get the bad press.
Their hatred to him is horrendous to the extent he pulled out of a charity game for Davie Cooper and Jimmy Johnstone charities as they said they would boycott it: THAT is a level of hatred.


p.s. he was great for us.
 
Context is important
When he played for Partick Thistle he was seen as an upcoming player who could do reasonably well.
He left Scotland and went to Watford, he did really well there surpassing expectations, I remember him playing in the FA cup final vs Everton
When Celtc signed him that was a big blow as he looked to be the real deal. He flaunted his hatred of Rangers when was there, deliberately winding supporters up, crossing himself and such like.
When he went to Nantes his career really took off. He played really well for Scotland during that time and top top teams could not handle him.
He scored one hell of an overhead kick for us once.
When Celtc had him on display as he was coming home it was a blow as he was the best Scottish striker at the time. An overhead kick against Cyprus being a real standout
When it was announced that we had him I was overjoyed as he was one hell of a player.
He was one of the hardest working players we had at that time.
He scored a lot of goals for us in those two seasons
I was a bit gutted when he joined Everton as I didn’t realise his legs had gone, but they kind of had.
He didn’t look after himself as much as he could have
By the time he played for Hearts and Falkirk he was a shadow of what he was.
Too much football at a young age I think and the hunger had gone
 
Fran Sand Dancer said:
I wasn't alive when Rangers signed Maurice Johnston, through modern eyes it still feels like a significant moment in our history but I don't think anyone who wasn't there can really grasp the feelings of shock that came with it.

To cut a long story short I'm working on something and looking to hear thoughts from people who were around at the time, were you happy with the signing? Did the GIRUY factor outweigh everything else? How did you and those around you react? etc

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
I was on holiday in Southport staying in a B&B.I took a stroll before breakfast to buy a newspaper and when I saw the headlines I must admit I was shocked then the ramifications kicked in and I was delighted.When I got back to the B&B I showed it to an elderly couple from Falkirk but they wernt having it at all they were very unhappy we had signed him,they were Rangers supporters too.
 
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