The Signing of Maurice Johnston

LBALucas1992 said:
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?
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Celtc fans are obsessed with religion. They can tell me even today which Rangers players are / were Catholics. I wouldn't even know which nations most of their players are from, never mind their religious beliefs. They also only demand a minute silence for dead Popes, and not for the deaths of any other religious leaders, which only confirms the tolerant " club open to all " is a pile of shite. They even forced out of their Boardroom a Jewish Director. The signing of MoJo was glorious. They hate any Catholics playing for Rangers.
 
Set the filth back years. Mind they had paraded him a couple of weeks previously thinking he had signed for them.

Pals Dad worked at daily record back then and they refused to run the story as was too unbelievable.
 
People who weren’t about at the time will never understand the magnitude of his signing, it was literally unbelievable.
My mate’s dad showed me the front page of The Sun at 8AM and burst out laughing. When I got into work the news was all over the radio.
We had two Celtc fans delivering equipment to our office and one of them was almost in tears- tears of anger. He said he would keep the box and use it to bury “that Judas bastard in”- very professional.
An in law who supports that lot said he almost crashed his van on the M8.
They will never get over it.
 
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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Mo-jo's signing was an absolute stroke of genius,did well for us and that first goal he scored against the filth will live with me forever :)
 
Marcellus Wallace 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!
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I was the exact same. I was ten, I thought it was brilliant. I can remember being at “play scheme” (during the summer holidays) and all us wee bears singing “MO MO, SUPER MO…….”. Wasn’t many wee Celtic supporters to rub it in though, this was Buckhaven in the 80s wasn't many of them. (Prob still isn’t)
 
I was just a bairn when he signed so didn't really understand all the fuss at the time, but he did end up being a favourite of mine (named my 2 gerbils Ally and Mo :) ).
 
I was a sportsmans dinner many years ago and Bill McMurdo was one of the guest speakers and he told the story about the day mo jo signed,

They arrived early doors to Ibrox to avoid any crowds as it was all hush hush and when they got there they asked were the toilet was so they could freshen up

So they are both in there getting a quick wash and all of a sudden heard the door open so they both jumped into a cubicle,

It was the cleaning guys and mo jo and bill could hear them converse,

So one guy says to the other,meant to be a big signing today,who do you reckon it will be?

The other guys says not sure but hope its not that c*** Johnston


True story apparently lol
 
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onedadoprso.1 said:
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.
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Its the use of the word Catholic

I doubt very much that most people who describe themselves as such are actual doctrine believing Christians
 
The signing was a huge shock obviously and I'm fairly sure that I wasn't exactly enamoured with it to begin with.

But then I watched him play and quickly realized that this wasn't the same player who'd left for France a few years earlier, he was a class act. He also took everything in his stride and clearly didn't give a f*ck about the other lot any more. The meltdown from them was just wonderful and as has been mentioned, they've never gotten over it.

It's also worth mentioning that in his first season, he scored the only goal in 1-0 wins over Aberdeen, Hearts and them which were vital for us.

I was there the day he scored his first goal in that sheep game and two roars went up that day; one for the goal and then a few seconds later a second roar when the fans realized that it was Johnston who had scored it.
 
I would have been about 10 or so, so it was more about getting a cracking player in, one who was Scotland’s No.1 striker at the time, scoring big goals for Scotland.

At that point, with no transfer windows, it seemed as if we were signing players every month, and were heading towards having the best team in the U.K., and one of the best in Europe. I count myself lucky that my interest in football started around the same time as Souness arrived.

It still winds them up, even to this day. Last Halloween, I bumped into a neighbour with his wee boy going to a kids fancy dress party, and the wee guy was wearing a Celtic strip from the 80s, and a blonde mullet wig. I blurted out ‘is that Mo Johnston’, and the guy nearly started foaming as he insisted his wee boy was meant to be McAvennie! He spat Mo Johnston’s name out with venom :)) .

To be fair, Mo Johnston had balls of steel for signing for us. Sleekit move maybe, and I’m sure the big wages played a part, but what a time it was.
 
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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This may come as a shock to you - but not all Roman Catholic’s practice the words of the Bible to the letter. Who’d have thought it ?
 
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I was working on the construction of what was to be the Brit Oil building at Charing cross. It became Abbey National and the last I heard belonged to Santander.

I went out for my roll and sausage at my break and saw an evening times bill board outside the newsagent (do you still get those things?) which had "Mo Johnston signs for Rangers".

I stood there staring at it for ages with my chin on the floor. My brain couldn't process it.

I got back to the site and told my bluenose mate who wouldn't fucking believe me.
He had to see it for himself.

10 minutes later we had packed the tools, clocked out and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Griffin bar getting pished.
We both thought it was brilliant and knew right away we were about to witness the biggest GIRFUY in football history.
 
Ramoan said:
This may come as a shock to you - but not all Roman Catholic’s practice the words of the Bible to the letter. Who’d have thought it ?
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So are they catholics then?

As I say. I don't think many people who describe themselves as Catholics or proddies actually believe that Jesus the son of God rose from the dead for their salvation.

That's a fairly important part of being a Catholic or protestant
 
And the story that came out later as well of Souness at the end of the 89 cup final telling them 'to enjoy it' but a big surprise awaited

As many have said here a superb player I don't we have had a better strike force across the board since Johnston, McCoist, Hateley and Walters
 
We were in work when the gaffers wife called to tell him, he told her to f@ck off as he didn't believe her then the boss came back from fueling up the truck to deliver castings and said it had just been on the radio. We were stunned at the time but not as much as the micks working next door in Proctor & Schwartz.
 
I was 14 and thought it was wonderful - he & Ally McCoist had struck up a great partnership for Scotland and that really swung it for me.



My Dad is a Celtic fan and the face in him when he got in from work that night told me that Rangers had struck gold on this one too!

Oddly enough… if I had been a year or so older then I think I’d have been dead against it. I was (still am really) quite Struthian about what I want my Rangers players to be and my ignorance about tracksuit selling and general being a wee Ned that has plagued Johnston when at Celtic just wasn’t on my radar.

I can understand fans not wanting “him” due to some of the off the field nonsense that he was infamous for before coming to Ibrox but I think he buckled down and worked hard for Rangers for a good 18mths before he seemed to get a bit bored of it, or the novelty wore off.
Cracking Rangers player over that period though. He got important goals - the 1-0 victories or one in a 2-1, or even goals to secure a draw on a bad day.
 
Scott1975 said:
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That was my first Old Firm game, I couldn't get a ticket but was in the Arthurlie Inns and got one for the Edminston club for £8, when that goal went in there was drink flying everywhere, was soaking and missed the Barrhead supporters bus home so I had to go into town and get train home.
I'm surprised I didn't get my baws kicked on the way home, also I had long hair at the time and there was a shout on the way that if we got beat then I was getting shagged on the bus back.:oops:
 
Bearsdenloyal said:
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
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Percentage of their support who claim to be Catholic but would need a map to find their way to the chapel… I’d say it’s pretty high.

I know plenty of Celtic fans who bang on about their supposed religion but that haven’t darkened the door of a place of worship since school, outside of the standard weddings, christenings or funerals.

I’d say that the percentage of church-attending Protestants in the Rangers support isn’t much different to be fair.
It’s all a bit of a badge of convenience to a lot of people.
 
RabSpackman said:
Percentage of their support who claim to be Catholic but would need a map to find their way to the chapel… I’d say it’s pretty high.

I know plenty of Celtic fans who bang on about their supposed religion but that haven’t darkened the door of a place of worship since school, outside of the standard weddings, christenings or funerals.

I’d say that the percentage of church-attending Protestants in the Rangers support isn’t much different to be fair.
It’s all a bit of a badge of convenience to a lot of people.
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Exactly this.

He was certainly sellik minded.

But the green he was most interested in was made of paper..
 
I was on the 64 from Carmyle in to the town. I knew how symbolic a signing he was but we signed Trevor Steven that summer. Trevor Steven played for us
 
I was 12 and couldn’t believe my eyes when it was on the news, fully expected our new signing to be Tony Dorigo who we had been linked to for a while

Was made better that tim pals were absolutely sick and Johnstone was an excellent player

The winner at Ibrox posted above is one of my favourite childhood memories, absolute bedlam when that went in
 
Bearsdenloyal said:
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
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So he’s no really roman but hes kafflik?
 
It showed the tims up for what they are contemptible shower of scum. Even his father who didn't keep very well , was threatened in the street .
 
I was fifteen when he signed. I remember waking up getting shook rather vigorously by my brother and I was ready to shout “WTF?!!!” at him but I saw he was just pointing at the tv and he couldn’t even say anything. I’ve never seen anyone so gobsmacked or ever felt as gobsmacked in my life.

When it registered I was over the moon for the GIRFUY value because he had been paraded at CP and had come out with the old classic “it’s the only team I ever wanted to play for”, but equally because he was a tremendous player.
 
By signing him, we kicked the moral high chair away from Celtic and their supporters. Irrespective of your view, I always felt that by signing protestants (even if they hated it), they could claim it proved they weren't bigots (even though they couldn't compete by only signing RCs).
It's people of Lawwell's age who were destroyed.
 
I was in full torment mode. Was working on a trawler in Stornoway at the time. 2 of the crew raging papes from Barra. Telling me how Mo was going to stuff us. Then the tables turned Mo was paraded on lunchtime news, pissed myself laughing at the clown nearly greetin cursing me the orange bassa that I was told I was. Told him to grow up and stop greeting and yir fekin beads are getting hoisted over the side.
 
The RC thing was a red herring. He was a horrible wee manky thug who despised us. His antics during the '86 Skol Cup final typified him.

But to be fair, he went away to France and over that period developed both as a player and a person.

He never stopped being one of them at heart - but he gave his all for us on the field and accepted the consequences that his decision brought off it.
 
It was a great signing as he was an exceptionally good striker. The fact Celtic had paraded him days before with their shirt definitely intensified the hatred from them against him as they were utterly humiliated. There will never be another signing that'll come remotely close to causing the shock waves that us signing Mo did.
 
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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At the time if you had asked me who the worst wee mentally challenged around was and epitomised everything I hated about them,it was Maurice Johnston.
I was devastated.
How ever very quickly I realised what a good player he was and I’m glad it was him who we signed.
The magnitude of meltdown from them was frankly unbelievable.They hate him more than anyone ever to play for Rangers.
Mo Mo super Mo still gets the auld ones in my work frothing…delightful.
 
Tiny_Kilby_Loyal said:
At the time if you had asked me who the worst wee mentally challenged around was and epitomised everything I hated about them,it was Maurice Johnston.
I was devastated.
How ever very quickly I realised what a good player he was and I’m glad it was him who we signed.
The magnitude of meltdown from them was frankly unbelievable.They hate him more than anyone ever to play for Rangers.
Mo Mo super Mo still gets the auld ones in my work frothing…delightful.
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In an earlier reply to this post, I mentioned the Ten Days that shook Rangers book, which I read from cover to cover.

In the bookshop, I skimmed through the Ten Days that shook Celtic book, and I offer the following two observations (remember it was published over 15 years ago).

The word RANGERS seemed to be mentioned in their book than our's - just confirmation of their obsession with us IMHO.

Although there were chapters about various catastrophies for their club, like getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Arthurlie, there were two events which they just couldn't handle at all, and they kept on referencing them. One was Helicopter Sunday, and other was our signing Maurice Johnston.
 
Cambuslangger said:
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!
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When you say walked into the pub as the news broke do you mean in the afternoon after the story was in the Sun that morning?

At the time I delivered newspapers in the mornings and I don't remember any breaking news the night before until I walked into the newspaper shop at 6am on that morning and seen the Sun exclusive about him signing,something the paper and Keith Jackson are not slow of reminding us of more than a few times since.
I couldn't believe the headline and went straight home to wake the old man up to show him the paper before I did my paper round.

Personally I loved the fact we had signed him for equally the fact i knew it would have sickened them and that he was a quality player.
My old man wasn't that convinced by it,I was kind of agreeing with him after he missed those two sitters in the space of a minute or so v them at parkhead :)
However he did more than make up for it by scoring in the last minute in the first old firm game I went to!
 
I was in two minds about it.
I hated him for him crossing himself as he was sent off in the 86 League Cup. That action was up there with anything Lennon or Griffths done in later years.
But….
I admired him as a player and his finishing in the box was so good I was reminded of Denis Law in his prime at Man United.

I figured it was only a matter of time Souness signed a RC.
It may as well be one who is going to drive that mob absolutely mental and somebody who I was sure was a big time player and who would score goals for 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.
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I had mates who gave up season tickets through this one.

I was younger and didn’t really care but still seemed a bit mental but when he scored against them well that was more funny than anything I’ve witnessed at Ibrox tbh.
 
The absolute seethe from them as he emerged onto the pitch at their dump for his OF debut as a Rangers player was glorious to see, the English press were even up for that game.
Our bus was split regarding the signing, my view was it was the ultimate GIRUY to them and if he scores a last minute winner against them who's not going to cheer that?
Roll on to the November and the second OF game and BOOM...pick it out bonnar.
 
Shocked to be honest, personally I was against it initially but I'll be honest. Nothing to do with him being an RC and more the fact he was an ex Celtic player.

He won me over, that late winner at Ibrox v Celtic will live with me forever, I scored a ticket outside the ground for the west enclosure and it was bedlam when it went in.

He scored a lot of vital goals that season, I'm pretty certain it was the least amount of goals we scored in a season during the 9.
 
It’s an event that will never be repeated. They’d paraded him and tbh it would have been a cracking signing for them. There were rumblings in the papers of contractual issues but that was par for the course in signing players from foreign clubs.

On the actual day he signed The Sun had the story but I think most of us put that down to the usual sensationalist nonsense. I got to work and got a phone call from a mate …. “We’ve signed Mo Johnston”, I told him where to go, that it was only The Sun, so he told me to call the Rangers Hotline…..pre internet days!….and sure enough they announced the “Sensational News”.

Tbh I was delighted (as where most I knew)! He was a top player at the time plus the windup-ometer was off the scale. There were the odd voices of dissent among the support….mainly that he was an ex Celtic player and fan (he had been a bit of a Griffiths-lite when he played for them) rather the religion aspect… but in the main he was welcomed, especially when he started to do a job (scoring the winner v them at Ibrox helped).
 
I was back shift and it was around 10 that morning and my brother phoned.

'Have you seen a paper this morning?'
'Not yet, why?'
'We've signed Maurice Johnston.'

Yup, I was angry, didn't want a yahoo at Ibrox in any capacity, but especially him. A c--t who had spat on a Rangers player. A ned who tried to live up to the Peter Grant/Burns example of a 'shettleston.'

Yet, I knew that his spell in France had made him a better, all round striker. The rest as they say is history and despite what the press may claim there were very few Rangers fans papping their scarves at Ibrox.

However, what they refuse to tell us is that by signing for us, the hypocrisy of the filth was laid bare for all to see. Tramps being banned from his OF debut at the cesspit in the August for example, due to death threats etc. - BTW, he missed a couple of sitters that day. But he did make up for it.

That he can't or won't ever come back to Glasgow/Scotland to live sums up the filth and their 'open to all' lies.

Fast forward to Nov 4th at Ibrox (Paul Elliot's OF debut, incidentally)

In the District bar after it and my big uncle quipped. 'That was the greatest OF own goal in history'

My other abiding memory of him is that in Walter's first full season as manager and as the McCoist and Hateley partnership began to take shape, he wasn't one for hanging around.
 
Bearsdenloyal said:
So are they catholics then?

As I say. I don't think many people who describe themselves as Catholics or proddies actually believe that Jesus the son of God rose from the dead for their salvation.

That's a fairly important part of being a Catholic or protestant
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Your 2nd post on this thread opened with “he wasn’t just a catholic, he was a Roman Catholic”. Now you’re saying of him and his like “so are they catholics then?”. No offence, but you’re in danger of disappearing up your own arse here.
 
I was travelling around Europe at the time and was in Florence on that day. I’d gone to buy a British newspaper in the morning, saw the Daily Record and couldn’t believe it. Front page news, I seem to remember.

Personally I thought it was a great signing. Johnston had developed into a much better player since he left for France and was probably a better all round footballer than McCoist at the time.

I think the three foreigner rule had just come in or was about to come in for European competition so it made even more sense in that respect.

And of course the GIRUY aspect to it was so overpowering that Timbo is still rattled by it on some level to this day.

It certainly felt like a tactical hammer blow to that lot at the time and can easily be seen as offsetting a depression that took them the best part of a decade to recover from.
 
Stayed with my brother at the time who's a Celtic fan, as the news broke we both sat in total disbelief. I went on holiday a few weeks later and even the Spanish were talking about it. His last minute winner v them is up there with my favourite Rangers moment.
 
Always bought the record as a 17 yo apprentice, went into the paper shop and saw the front page of the sun.
Unbelievable, I’d of believed it more if it said there was Nazis on the moon.

Was the main news story on radio 1 all day and the main UK tv news.

I’ve never been so shocked about anything like that in football and never will be.

The most hated filth player who had just signed for them again, signing for us a week later.

From Mo Mo fk yer Mo to Mo Mo super Mo and we’ve got ally and yer Mo.
 
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