Jimmy Johnstone - the greatest player ever from Britain?

[Tubey]

Problem is you have to go on standard of the league.

Like numerous top pros raved about John O'Leary being the most talented footballer they've ever seen, including Jackie Charlton - but he spent his career at amateur level in Kirkby.

 

[Papa Shango]

Do goalies count?

 

[WA Toffee]

Gifted but plied his trade in a league filled with donkeys. Most gifted? No. Too many names to list.

He won the European cup and reached the final again, and was in the same division as a team that won the ECWC, but yeah, donkeys

 

[WA Toffee]

Problem is you have to go on standard of the league.

Like numerous top pros raved about John O'Leary being the most talented footballer they've ever seen, including Jackie Charlton - but he spent his career at amateur level in Kirkby.

True, and at that time, the Scottish league was one of the very best. They even went as far as winning the European cup before any English team could

 

[PSB1]

He won the European cup and reached the final again, and was in the same division as a team that won the ECWC, but yeah, donkeys

I was referring to the rest of the division.

I watched Johnson, McNeil, Lennox and the rest. Good players. Citing Johnson as the greatest British player is, however, risible in my view.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

It's time to revive the word maverick! Who are today's mavericks? Messi and Ronaldo? They're not in the same class as Jinky Johnstone who once appropriated a rowing boat after a drinks party in the Scotland camp and went out into the Irish Sea. He had to be rescued by the authorities!
I can't think of many players these days that I'd cross the road to see quite frankly.

Don't know. I'll have to look in the dictionary for a good definition of the word. As I said, I'd always got the impression it was applied to inconsistant but talented players.
If it's more to do with off field antics and being outspoken, a bit of a rebel or a bit of a 'lad', I suppose Ibrahimovic fits the bill better then most currently

 

[larbert toffee]

It's time to revive the word maverick! Who are today's mavericks? Messi and Ronaldo? They're not in the same class as Jinky Johnstone who once appropriated a rowing boat after a drinks party in the Scotland camp and went out into the Irish Sea. He had to be rescued by the authorities!
I can't think of many players these days that I'd cross the road to see quite frankly.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I say Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) as George Best being from Northern Ireland I think he’s the most gifted from the UK/Ireland. Jimmy Johnstone I’ve only quite recently discovered. His ability is stunning. He did things that are Messi-esque. The close ball control, the effortless ability to glide past people with a drop of the shoulder (left or right). He verged on piss taking it’s comical. Watched this yesterday and found myself laughing at the stuff he was doing. I find it hard to think of a more gifted player from Britain.

He was only small so he'd never do it on a wet night in Stoke.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

I was referring to the rest of the division.

I watched Johnson, McNeil, Lennox and the rest. Good players. Citing Johnson as the greatest British player is, however, risible in my view.

In the 50s and 60s the Scottish league was far more competitive than it is today. Hibs were semi finalists in the European Cup and the Fairs Cup. Dunfermline beat us and battered Valencia in the Fairs cup and got to the semi final of the ECWC in 69. And Dundee were semi finalists in the European Cup in 63. That's apart from the Old Firm.

Totally different ball game to the mickey Mouse league we see today.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Poor leagues Peter Beagrie

I was just going to say this. In that video he seemed to beat his man and then rather than doing something useful would turn back and try and beat him again.

 

[Methuselah]

I was referring to the rest of the division.

I watched Johnson, McNeil, Lennox and the rest. Good players. Citing Johnson as the greatest British player is, however, risible in my view.

If you ran a poll on the best British player you would get at least 20 entries and its possible Johnstone wouldn't be one of them. My vote would be John Charles.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

In the 50s and 60s the Scottish league was far more competitive than it is today. Hibs were semi finalists in the European Cup and the Fairs Cup. Dunfermline beat us and battered Valencia in the Fairs cup and got to the semi final of the ECWC in 69. And Dundee were semi finalists in the European Cup in 63. That's apart from the Old Firm.

Totally different ball game to the mickey Mouse league we see today.

That was the same for a lot of leagues in Europe as the best players in each country tended to stay in their domestic league. The European Cup had finalists from Scotland, Yugoslavia, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and Romania. Since it's become the Champions League, it's generally been a stitch-up between the English, German, Italian, and Spanish leagues.

 

[daza_1973]

Poor leagues Peter Beagrie

And not a somersault in sight.

 

[jaycee]

I was just going to say this. In that video he seemed to beat his man and then rather than doing something useful would turn back and try and beat him again.

By all accounts he was a very decent player but I doubt he would be in a top 50 of anybodies list,certainly nothing in that video screams greatest talent

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Poor leagues Peter Beagrie

An element of truth in that even if a legend too, he was an undoubted great dribbler with superb close control of the ball, a Scottish international star. A player can only play who he's up against and the international focus tended to be all about the England home international every year.

1970's England weren't particularly good, and sometimes very poor indeed. However the auld firm were far more competitive in those days (by European and British standards), but the Scottish League was still dominated by them with the rest nowhere. So making any sort of comparison with other players in different times and leagues is fraught with difficulty.

Dixie Dean for instance, Shankley who saw him live said he was the Beethoven, Shakespeare and Rembrandt of football, in a class with the gods.