Craig Johnston

In his first match as a trialist, at half time and 3–0 down he was told by then manager Jack Charlton "you are the worst footballer I have ever seen in my life. You won't make a player while your arse still points to the ground". He was told to "hop it" therefore losing his room at the hotel for all the trialists. He stayed in a cleaned out coal shed behind the hotel. Refusing to give up, he trained alone in a car park near Ayresome Park where he was spotted by then Boro captain Graeme Souness. Middlesbrough, managed by John Neal now, signed Johnston in 1977 making his first team debut for Middlesbrough, aged 17, in a 3–2 FA Cup victory against Everton. His league debut came on 4 February 1978 in a 2–1 victory over Birmingham City at St Andrew's and he scored his first goal later that season in a 2–1 home league defeat to West Ham United. Johnston scored 16 goals in 64 league games for Middlesbrough before moving to Liverpool in 1981 for £650,000 Johnston made his Liverpool debut in August 1981, coming on as sub for Ray Kennedy in the 1–0 league defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Johnston's first start came in the Intercontinental Cup fixture against Brazilian side Flamengo. Johnston scored his first goal for Liverpool on 8 December 1981 against Arsenal at Anfield, during a League Cup fourth round replay. Johnston opened the scoring in the fifth minute of extra time in a 3–0 win. Johnston became a crowd favourite at Anfield during his long spell with the club. He…

Despite Johnston's success in domestic football, he never played international football for Australia. Johnston attributed this to an unwillingness on Liverpool & Middlesbrough's parts to release him for international games they viewed as being unimportant and exhausting from a jetlag perspective (a challenge other Australian players of the era faced from their domestic clubs, such as Tony Dorigo), as well as a desire to stay established in the domestic team rather than disrupt this progress. Johnston also asked the Australian FA for financial support to travel home, which they rejected. Socceroos coach Frank Arok stated that Johnston wanted to be paid the same amount per week when playing for Australia as what he was paid for playing for Liverpool - an infeasible amount for the AFA to pay. Early in his career in England he had described playing football for Australia as "like surfing for England." Johnston was approached by Jock Stein in the early 1980s with a view to him playing for Scotland as he was eligible through his father. Johnston declined Stein's offer. He did represent England at under-21 level against Norway in September 1980 at The Dell and against the Republic of Ireland at Anfield in February 1981. Johnston was also eligible to represent South Africa.

After retiring from playing football, Johnston found success as a businessman and innovator, designing and creating the prototype for Adidas Predator football boot, worn by many of the world's top players of both football and rugby including Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Xavi, Jonny Wilkinson and Ronan O'Gara. Getting the first boot off the ground took Johnston 5 years and was initially refused by Adidas, as well as Nike and Reebok. However, Johnston then filmed German legends Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner using the boots in snowy conditions, which led to Adidas agreeing to the proposal. He later designed another innovative boot called The Pig or, to give them their full title, the Patented Interactive Grip can come as a 'skin' that can be placed over the toe of an existing boot. The design earned him a nomination for British designer of the year, losing out to a multimedia designer. Johnston also invented the Traxion sole for football boots and the software program the 'Butler,' a device that shows what has been removed from minibars in hotel bedrooms. Johnston invested heavily in a football school idea for inner city children but failed to win expected business backing and went bankrupt. He was made temporarily homeless as a result.

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