Damien Johnson

Blackburn Rovers

His first English team was Blackburn Rovers, for whom Johnson signed as a trainee, from Portadown in 1997, making his debut in the League Cup on 30 September 1997, a 1–0 defeat to Preston North End, in which he picked up a yellow card. Loaned to Nottingham Forest on 28 January 1998, Johnson played in five games, and, despite accruing a yellow card in his last February appearance, performed well for the team. Blackburn won the 2002 League Cup final a few days before Johnson left the club. Despite not being part of the squad for the final Johnson had contributed to a few games earlier in the cup run, including scoring a goal against Manchester City.

Birmingham City

Having dropped down the pecking order at Blackburn and out of contract at the end of the season, Johnson signed for Championship club Birmingham City on 8 March 2002. The fee was officially undisclosed, but later reported on Birmingham's website as £50,000. In September 2004, he signed a new three-year contract. He was voted Birmingham's Player of the Year for 2005–06. Johnson was named the Birmingham City captain for the 2006–07 season but in one of his first games as captain, he angered fans when he first threw his captain's armband and then his shirt on the floor when he was substituted late on. On 28 October, his jaw was broken in two places after he was elbowed in the face by West Bromwich Albion defender Paul Robinson. Despite the injury, he played on for the remaining 10…

Johnson earned his first Northern Ireland call up on 29 May 1999, when he came on as a substitute in the 1–0 away win against the Republic of Ireland. Further appearances as substitute followed against Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Hungary, before he made his first full appearance versus Yugoslavia at Windsor Park, Belfast, in August 2000. After a period when his international appearances were restricted by serious injury, Johnson made his 49th appearance for NI in the 3–0 World Cup Qualifying victory in San Marino on 11 February 2009, when he was the BBC's "Man of the Match". On 29 July 2010, Johnson announced his retirement from international football after making 56 appearances for the team.

Following his retirement from football, Johnson went into coaching, completing his coaching qualifications and gaining experience assisting at various clubs including Everton.

Blackburn Rovers

In April 2015, Johnson returned to Blackburn Rovers, the club at which he began his English career, as U14 academy coach. After three months he was appointed U21 lead coach, a post which was redesignated professional development phase lead coach when the development squad began to compete at under-23 level. In July 2019 he was promoted to first team technical coach & head of player development, a post he still held as of August 2024. In July 2020, Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough added Johnson to his coaching team in addition to his duties at Blackburn, but Johnson gave up the role within a year for personal reasons. In February 2024, he and fellow coach David Lowe took temporary charge of Blackburn for their 3–1 Championship win over Stoke City while waiting for new manager John Eustace to take over formally. On 3 February 2026, Johnson was placed into temporary charge of the first team again following the departure of Valérien Ismaël.

Club

International

As a manager

As of match played 14 February 2026