Andrew Johnson (footballer, born 1981)

For the Wales international footballer, see Andy Johnson (footballer, born 1974). For other people named Andrew Johnson, see Andrew Johnson (disambiguation).

Andrew Johnson

Personal information
Full name	Andrew Johnson [1]
Date of birth	(1981-02-10) 10 February 1981 (age 43) [1]
Place of birth	Bedford, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) [2]
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Luton Town
000–1998	Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–2002	Birmingham City	83	(8)
2002–2006	Crystal Palace	140	(74)
2006–2008	Everton	61	(17)
2008–2012	Fulham	86	(13)
2012–2014	Queens Park Rangers	20	(2)
2014–2015	Crystal Palace	0	(0)
Total		390	(114)
International career
2005–2007	England	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andrew Johnson (born 10 February 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

A legend at Crystal Palace, Johnson scored more than one goal per every other game in 140 appearances and helped Crystal Palace win promotion to the Premier League

He was capped eight times for England.

Club career

Birmingham City

Johnson was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, ^[1] and started his career at Luton Town's Academy.^{[ citation needed ]} He moved on to Birmingham City, where he signed his first professional contract on 11 March 1998. ^[1] He missed a deciding penalty in the 2001 League Cup Final penalty shoot-out defeat to Liverpool. ^[3]

After making over 100 appearances for the Blues, he was sold to Crystal Palace in 2002, following Birmingham's promotion into the Premier League. Johnson was used as the makeweight in a transfer deal for Clinton Morrison, valued at £750,000 for the purposes of the transaction. ^[4]

Crystal Palace

Johnson in 2005

Johnson's made a strong start to his career at Palace by scoring a hat-trick in the 5–0 thrashing of rivals Brighton & Hove Albion on 26 October 2002, ^[5] and then another, in the next match, at Walsall. ^[6] Despite this, he made few appearances until manager Trevor Francis was dismissed^{[ citation needed ]} with the Eagles mid-table, and replaced by Steve Kember. ^[7] Kember was replaced by Iain Dowie a few months into the 2003–04 season. ^[8] Under the new manager, Johnson ended the season as top scorer in the 2003–04 First Division season with 32 goals. ^[9] Palace reached the play-offs and were promoted into the Premier League for 2004–05 after beating West Ham United 1–0 in the final. ^[10]

Despite Palace's relegation back into the Championship the following season, Johnson was the highest scoring English player with 21 goals and the second highest overall in the Premier League. ^[11] his form attracted the attention of England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. ^[12] Johnson requested a transfer,^{[ citation needed ]} but signed a new five-year contract with Palace in August 2005. ^[13]

Johnson was soon playing alongside Clinton Morrison, who had rejoined Palace from Birmingham for a fee of £2 million, ^[14] three years after Birmingham had bought him in a deal for £4.25 million plus Johnson. ^[15] However, due to injury to Johnson, and Morrison's lack of form, the pairing was limited in the early part of the season.^{[ citation needed ]} With a return to fitness and form, the two soon became Dowie's first choice pairing as the season progressed, with Dougie Freedman adding experience to the strike force.^{[ citation needed ]}

Palace comfortably made it into a top-six position but in the play-offs failed to recover from a first leg defeat at the hands of Watford, ^[16] being beaten on aggregate in the semi-final. ^[17] Johnson scored 15 goals in the Championship that season.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2005, Johnson was voted into Palace's Centenary XI, the only player at the club at the time to be selected, and, together with Nigel Martyn, the only members of the XI then playing on a professional basis.^{[ citation needed ]}

Everton

After Crystal Palace's failure to return to top-flight football, speculation about Johnson's future at the club began with a transfer to a Premier League club seeming highly likely.^{[ citation needed ]} However, when an initial bid from Everton of £7.25 million was rejected, it looked more likely that the club would be able to keep Johnson for a further year after all.^{[ citation needed ]} Nevertheless, the departure of manager Iain Dowie only increased the likelihood of Johnson's departure, and on 24 May 2006 Palace accepted an £8.5m million offer from Wigan Athletic for Johnson.^{[ citation needed ]} This bid was matched by fellow Lancashire club Bolton Wanderers a day later, which was also accepted.^{[ citation needed ]}

With Johnson having indicated a preference for a move to Merseyside, Everton, prompted by the two other bids, improved their offer to £8.6 million the following day.^{[ citation needed ]} On 30 May 2006, he passed his medical and completed the move to Goodison Park, signing a five-year contract.^{[ citation needed ]} Johnson's move set new club transfer records, both as Everton's most expensive purchase and Palace's most expensive sale.^{[ citation needed ]}

Johnson scored his first goal for Everton on his debut on 19 August 2006, in a 2–1 win over Watford.^{[ citation needed ]} He continued a good start to his Everton career by scoring against Tottenham Hotspur away to end a 21-year victory drought there and then scoring twice in the 3–0 derby victory against Liverpool.^{[ citation needed ]} Johnson was Everton's top scorer in the 2006–07 FA Premier League with 11 goals (and one in the FA Cup).^{[ citation needed ]} However, Johnson was allegedly affected by allegations of simulation, going 13 matches without scoring a goal at one stage.^{[ citation needed ]}

After a league match with Chelsea on 17 December 2006, Chelsea manager José Mourinho branded Johnson "untrustworthy" following a challenge with Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilário. Everton issued a statement threatening legal action and calling on Mourinho to apologise, ^[18] which he did two days later. ^[19] Mourinho was not the first to air such sentiments about Johnson; former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock also having accused Johnson of resorting to "gamesmanship" to win a penalty in a Premier League match between the two clubs. ^[20]

Everton manager David Moyes took the unusual step of contacting the Professional Game Match Officials Board in order to counter these accusations.^{[ citation needed ]} The board's general manager Keith Hackett agreed that Johnson was being treated harshly and had been denied several clear penalties.^{[ citation needed ]}

On 6 November 2007, Johnson signed a new five-year contract with Everton. ^[21] During the new season, Johnson scored some vital goals for Everton, including a Premier League winner away to West Ham.^{[ citation needed ]} He scored Everton's first goal in the 2–1 away victory against Wigan Athletic, and was denied a winning goal at Blackburn Rovers, adjudged to have been offside.^{[ citation needed ]}

Johnson scored twice in Everton's 6–1 thrashing of SK Brann in the UEFA Cup.^{[ citation needed ]} He scored Everton's second and sixth goal and the last goal was a driven shot from outside the box.^{[ citation needed ]} Johnson also scored in Everton's Round of 16 tie against Fiorentina.^{[ citation needed ]} He picked up a groin injury in Everton's match at the Craven Cottage against Fulham.^{[ citation needed ]}

Fulham

Johnson (left) playing for Fulham in 2009

In July 2008, Everton accepted an offer of "an eight figure sum" from Fulham for Johnson. ^[22] It was reported that problems had arisen from his medical, prompting a possible renegotiation of the fee, ^[23] but the move was completed on 7 August 2008, the player signing a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, thought to be in the region of £10.5 million. ^[24] He made his debut for the club in a 2–1 win over Bolton Wanderers at Craven Cottage on 13 September 2008. ^[25] Johnson was sent off against West Ham United on 27 September 2008 for two bookable offences.^{[ citation needed ]} He scored his first and second Fulham goals against Wigan Athletic on 29 October 2008.^{[ citation needed ]}

Johnson finished the 2008–09 season with 10 goals helping Fulham to finish in seventh place and qualify for the UEFA Europa League.^{[ citation needed ]} He made only 13 appearances for Fulham in 2009–10, scoring three goals, as he missed much of the season due to a troublesome knee problem.^{[ citation needed ]} He also missed most of the early part of the 2010–11 season with injury.^{[ citation needed ]} He made a good start to the 2011–12 season, scoring a Premier League hat-trick on 2 October in the 6–0 win over West London rivals Queens Park Rangers. ^[26] Johnson also scored twice in Fulham's 4–1 win over Wisła Kraków on 4 November 2011, putting them on the brink of securing a place in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League. ^[27] These goals were Johnson's seventh and eighth in the UEFA Europa League; he also scored against NSÍ Runavík, Crusaders, RNK Split, Twente and Odense. ^[28]

Johnson's contract at Fulham expired in June 2012 and he was released after four years at the club. ^[29]

Queens Park Rangers

In June 2012, Johnson signed for Queens Park Rangers on a two-year contract. ^[30] Johnson made his debut as a substitute in the first match of the season at home against Swansea City. ^[31] Johnson made his first start away at Manchester City, providing an assist for Bobby Zamora's equalising goal. ^[32] On 17 September 2012, it was announced that Johnson was likely to miss the majority of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. ^[33] In August 2013, Johnson scored the winning goal in Queens Park Rangers' opening fixture of the Championship season against Sheffield Wednesday. ^[34] He was released on 1 July 2014 following the end of his contract.^{[ citation needed ]}

Return to Crystal Palace

On 3 September 2014, Johnson signed a short-term contract with Crystal Palace on a free transfer, and was given some coaching responsibility with academy players. ^[35] He left the club at the start of January 2015 when that contract expired, having made a solitary appearance in the League Cup. ^[36]

On 30 March 2016, Johnson returned to Crystal Palace as an ambassador. His duties would again involve some coaching responsibility as well as involvement with the community. ^[37]

International career

Johnson was first capped for England at U20 level, being selected in the team for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside Stuart Taylor, Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch and Matthew Etherington.^{[ citation needed ]} The team finished bottom of their group, losing all three matches without scoring.^{[ citation needed ]}

As the top English goalscorer in the 2004–05 Premier League, there were many calling for him to be selected for the full England squad.^{[ citation needed ]} Midway through the season, Johnson revealed that he would accept a call-up to the national team of Poland, after being eligible through his grandfather being born in Poland. ^[38] This subsequently hurried then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson into giving Johnson his first call-up, to face the Netherlands on 9 February 2005, and he made his first international appearance in that match. ^[39]

A second cap came when Johnson made his full debut for England, in a 2–1 friendly win over the United States, during England's tour of America in the summer of 2005. ^[39] On 9 May 2006, Johnson was put on standby by Eriksson in his squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. ^[39] He was also an unused substitute in the England B match against Belarus and the first team's wins over Hungary and Jamaica.^{[ citation needed ]}

When Steve McClaren was installed as England coach, Johnson got further opportunities to play for his country in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.^{[ citation needed ]} Johnson made substitute appearances against Andorra (at Old Trafford on 2 September 2006) and away to Macedonia (on 6 September 2006).^{[ citation needed ]} Johnson then made his first competitive start for England in the Euro 2008 qualifier with Israel.^{[ citation needed ]}

Post-retirement life

Johnson now runs a property company, and also works for Fortus, a business advisory firm. ^[40] In February 2024, Johnson was appointed to the role of director of football at AFC Croydon Athletic, a non-league club. ^[41]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Birmingham City	1998–99 [42]	First Division	3	0	0	0	2	0	—		5	0
	1999–2000 [43]	First Division	23	1	0	0	5	1	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	30	2
	2000–01 [44]	First Division	34	4	0	0	7	3	0	0	41	7
	2001–02 [45]	First Division	23	3	1	0	2	1	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	28	4
	Total		83	8	1	0	16	5	4	0	104	13
Crystal Palace	2002–03 [46]	First Division	28	11	3	0	3	3	—		34	14
	2003–04 [47]	First Division	42	27	1	0	3	4	3 [lower-alpha 1]	1	49	32
	2004–05 [48]	Premier League	37	21	1	1	0	0	—		38	22
	2005–06 [49]	Championship	33	15	3	2	1	0	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	39	17
	Total		140	74	8	3	7	7	5	1	160	85
Everton	2006–07 [50]	Premier League	32	11	1	1	2	0	—		35	12
	2007–08 [51]	Premier League	29	6	1	0	2	0	7 [lower-alpha 3]	4	39	10
	Total		61	17	2	1	4	0	7	4	74	22
Fulham	2008–09 [52]	Premier League	31	7	4	3	1	0	—		36	10
	2009–10 [53]	Premier League	8	0	1	0	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 4]	3	13	3
	2010–11 [54]	Premier League	27	3	2	0	0	0	—		29	3
	2011–12 [28]	Premier League	20	3	1	0	0	0	13 [lower-alpha 4]	8	34	11
	Total		86	13	8	3	1	0	17	11	112	27
Queens Park Rangers	2012–13 [55]	Premier League	3	0	0	0	1	0	—		4	0
	2013–14 [56]	Championship	17	2	1	0	2	0	0	0	20	2
	Total		20	2	1	0	3	0	0	0	24	2
Crystal Palace	2014–15 [57]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
Career total			390	114	20	7	32	12	33	16	475	149

1. Appearances in First Division play-offs
2. Appearances in Championship play-offs
3. Appearances in UEFA Cup
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
England [58]	2005	2	0
	2006	3	0
	2007	3	0
Total		8	0

Honours

Birmingham City

• Football League First Division play-offs: 2002 ^[59]
• Football League Cup runner-up: 2000–01 ^[3]

Crystal Palace

• Football League First Division play-offs: 2004 ^[10]

Individual

• Premier League Player of the Month: October 2004, ^[60] September 2006 ^[60]
• PFA Team of the Year: 2003–04 First Division, ^[61] 2004–05 Premier League ^[62]
• Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 2003–04, ^[63] 2004–05 ^[63]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 221. ISBN   978-1-84596-601-0.
2. "ToffeeWeb - Everton Players: Andy Johnson".
3. "Blues shot down as Liverpool lift cup". BBC Sport. 25 February 2001. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
4. "£20m or Duff stays at Blackburn – Souness". Irish Independent. Dublin. 23 July 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
5. "C Palace 5–0 Brighton". BBC Sport. 26 October 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
6. "Walsall 3–4 C Palace". BBC Sport. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
7. "Palace appoint Kember". BBC Sport. 23 May 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
8. "Symons steps in as Eagles boss goes". League Managers Association. 6 November 2003. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
9. "Andrew Johnson". Everton F.C. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
10. "Crystal Palace 1–0 West Ham". BBC Sport. 29 May 2004. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
11. "Barclays Premier League Stats: Top Goal Scorers – 2004–05". ESPN FC. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
12. "Andrew Johnson". Crystal Palace F.C. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012.
13. "Johnson commits future to Palace". BBC Sport. 2 August 2005. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
14. "Morrison completes Palace return". BBC Sport. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
15. "Birmingham net Morrison". BBC Sport. 30 July 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
16. "Crystal Palace 0–3 Watford". BBC Sport. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
17. "Watford 0–0 C Palace (agg 3–0)". BBC Sport. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
18. "Everton want Mourinho retraction". BBC Sport. 18 December 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
19. "Mourinho makes apology to Johnson". BBC Sport. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2006.
20. "Warnock frustrated by 'gamesmanship'". Evening Standard. London. 22 October 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
21. "Johnson renews ties at Everton". 6 November 2007.
22. Scott McLeod (28 July 2008). "Blues accept AJ offer". Everton F.C. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
23. Gary Jacob (2 August 2008). "Window watch". The Times. London. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
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25. Russell Barder (13 September 2008). "Fulham 2–1 Bolton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
26. "Fulham 6-0 QPR - BBC Sport". BBC Sport.
27. "Report: Fulham v Wisla Krakow". ESPN FC. 3 November 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
28. "A. Johnson". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
29. Scott, Matt (17 August 2012). "Fulham Premier League season preview 2012-13". Daily Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 1 June 2019.
30. "QPR sign Ryan Nelsen and Andrew Johnson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
31. "QPR 0–5 Swansea". BBC Sport. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
32. "Manchester City 3–1 QPR". BBC Sport. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
33. "QPR's Andy Johnson could miss most of the season with injury" BBC Sport. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
34. "Championship: QPR beat Sheffield Wednesday 2–1 at Loftus Road". Sky Sports. 3 August 2013.
35. "Andrew Johnson rejoins Crystal Palace". Crystal Palace F.C. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
36. "Johnson released from Palace". Crystal Palace F.C. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
37. "AJ Named Club Ambassador". Crystal Palace F.C. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
38. Yeend, Simon (22 October 2011). "Tigerish Martin Jol roars defiance". Daily Express. London. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
39. Winter, Henry (31 March 2021). "'I snubbed Poland, skipped my stag do and dodged the Pope to play for England'". The Times. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
40. Byers, David. "Andrew Johnson: '£40k a week sounds like a lot of wages, but I was still always worried'".
41. insidecroydon (19 February 2024). "Johnson takes football director role at non-league club Athletic". Inside Croydon. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
42. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
43. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
44. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
45. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
46. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
47. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
48. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
49. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
50. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
51. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
52. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
53. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
54. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
55. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
56. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
57. "Games played by Andrew Johnson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
58. "Johnson, Andy". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
59. "Birmingham reach Premiership". BBC Sport. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
60. "Andrew Johnson: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
61. "Henry retains PFA crown". BBC Sport. 25 April 2004. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
62. "Terry claims player of year award". BBC Sport. 24 April 2005. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
63. "Crystal Palace Player of the Year". Crystal Palace F.C. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

External links

• Andrew Johnson at Soccerbase