English footballer
Michael Johnson
(born 24 February 1988) is an English former professional
footballer
who played as a
midfielder
.
Johnson was a product of the
Leeds United
,
Feyenoord
,
[2]
Crewe Alexandra
,
Liverpool
,
[3]
Everton
and
Manchester City
youth academies. He made his
Premier League
debut for City during the 2006?07 season and went on to become somewhat of a first team regular. While with City he was an England youth international, for both the
under-19
and
under-21
teams.
Several injury setbacks that started during the 2008?09 season hampered his progress and he went on to only make four appearances for City in his final five years of his contract, playing his final match in a
League Cup
tie against
Scunthorpe United
in 2009. During the 2011?12 season Johnson was loaned out to
Leicester City
on a season long loan deal, but it was cut short due to injury. He was released from his contract with Manchester City in December 2012, over two years since his last appearance for the club.
[4]
Club career
[
edit
]
Youth career
[
edit
]
Johnson began his youth career with
Leeds United
, joining
Excelsior
in 2000 and
Everton
in 2002. He joined his only senior club Manchester City in 2004, graduating to the first team in 2006. He was part of the Manchester City
youth team
that reached the
2006 FA Youth Cup Final
.
Johnson was skipper of the FA Youth Cup runners-up team in the absence of Micah Richards during the 2005?06 season and became the 20th Academy Graduate to progress from Platt Lane to the City first team, making his debut away for manager Stuart Pearce at Wigan on 21 October 2006. His ability to run with the ball, score goals and operate box-to-box caught the eye both locally and nationally.
[
citation needed
]
Manchester City
[
edit
]
On 21 October 2006, he was rewarded for his progress and made his Manchester City debut in the
Premier League
, in a 4?0 defeat by
Wigan Athletic
at the
JJB Stadium
.
[5]
His second start came in a 2?0 win over
Middlesbrough
in March 2007, the start of a run of seven consecutive first team appearances,
[5]
which was ended by a hamstring injury which ruled him out of a match against
Aston Villa
.
[6]
He scored his first goal for City in a 1?0 win over
Derby County
on 15 August 2007 at the
City of Manchester Stadium
;
[7]
the first home league goal City had scored since the new year. Johnson spent the end of 2007 and early 2008 out of the team with an
abdominal
injury during which time he would have a double-hernia operation.
[8]
He returned to action on 29 February 2008, playing the full 90 minutes in City's goal-less home draw with Wigan.
[9]
Johnson finished the 2007?08 season with three goals.
[9]
Johnson started the 2008?09 season in good form, linking well with players such as
Stephen Ireland
and
Elano
in the first few matches of the season, however after this, Johnson failed to feature for nearly a year due to a recurrence of his abdominal injury after City's
League Cup
defeat by
Brighton & Hove Albion
on 24 September 2008. He would not return for nearly seven months when he played for the reserve team in April, but Johnson would not feature for the first team until the following pre-season.
[
citation needed
]
Johnson made his return to action in City's pre-season match against South African team
Orlando Pirates
during the
Vodacom Challenge
, but a strain picked up in the warm-up for the next match ruled him out.
[10]
Johnson made his first appearance of the 2009?10 season on 28 September 2009 in a 3?1 victory over
West Ham United
, coming on as a sub for
Gareth Barry
.
[11]
On 28 October, Johnson scored his first goal in over a year in a League Cup tie against
Scunthorpe United
.
[11]
On 10 December 2009, Manchester City announced that Johnson had suffered a serious knee injury in training which ruled him out of action until the end of the season.
[12]
On 27 July 2011, Johnson signed a season-long loan deal with
Leicester City
, managed by former Manchester City manager
Sven-Goran Eriksson
.
[13]
However, his loan spell ended prematurely, in January 2012, when he sustained an injury,
[4]
after making only nine appearances for the club.
[14]
In January 2013, it was reported that Johnson had been released from Manchester City prior to 25 December 2012.
[15]
This was revealed after a photograph surfaced of him looking overweight and unfit.
[15]
[16]
Johnson had only made four competitive first team appearances for City in his final five seasons, failing to make a single appearance for the club in the last three campaigns.
[
citation needed
]
The apparent demise of his promising career was lamented by a number of those that had worked with him. Former Manchester City teammate
Dietmar Hamann
described him as an "outstanding" midfielder that reminded him of his
Germany
teammate
Michael Ballack
.
[4]
Former manager Eriksson said that he was "An excellent player ... everyone thought he would become the next big star for England".
[4]
City manager
Roberto Mancini
said: "A guy with a big talent ? I am sad for him".
[4]
International career
[
edit
]
Johnson represented England at
under-19
level and
under-21
level.
[17]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Johnson was born in
Urmston
, Greater Manchester.
[1]
In February 2012, Johnson was arrested for
drink-driving
when police in Manchester city centre pulled him over and breathalysed him. While on bail for this offence, he was arrested again following a
crash
in the early hours in
Trafford
. Then again in June 2012 Johnson was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving at the scene of a collision after he crashed his Mercedes into a parked car while travelling to his girlfriend's house in Urmston.
[18]
In September 2012 he was fined a total of £5,500 for all three offences by Manchester Magistrates Court.
[19]
In an interview with the
Manchester Evening News
following his release from Manchester City, he stated that he had been under treatment for several years by
The Priory Clinic
for
mental health
problems. Johnson added that he "would be grateful if I could now be left alone to live the rest of my life."
[20]
In January 2015, Johnson opened his own
estate agent
's business in his hometown of Urmston.
[21]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010).
The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010?11
. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 223.
ISBN
978-1-84596-601-0
.
- ^
"Man City's Johnson almost lost to Feyenoord"
.
Tribal Football
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
Kay, Oliver.
"Michael Johnson: Someone turned the light off and I didn't know where to go"
.
The Athletic
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Austin, Simon (19 January 2013).
"Michael Johnson: From future England star to released at 24"
. BBC Sport
. Retrieved
21 January
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2006/2007"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
"West Ham thrash Wigan, Charlton in deep trouble"
.
Goal.com
. 30 April 2007.
Archived
from the original on 30 April 2007
. Retrieved
29 April
2007
.
- ^
Stevenson, Jonathan (15 August 2007).
"Man City 1?0 Derby"
. BBC Sport
. Retrieved
29 October
2009
.
- ^
"Johnson hopes for strong finish"
Archived
20 December 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Manchester City F.C. Retrieved 25 August 2011
- ^
a
b
c
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2007/2008"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
"Injured trio progress well"
Archived
6 November 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Manchester City F.C. Retrieved 25 August 2011
- ^
a
b
c
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2009/2010"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
"Michael Johnson injures knee in training"
Archived
13 December 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Manchester City F.C. Retrieved 25 August 2011
- ^
"Leicester sign Man City's Johnson"
.
BBC Sport
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2011/2012"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"Michael Johnson released as Manchester City finally lose patience"
.
The Guardian
. 15 January 2013
. Retrieved
15 January
2013
.
- ^
"Manchester City confirm that Michael Johnson was released before Christmas"
. Sky Sports. 15 January 2013
. Retrieved
15 January
2013
.
- ^
"Vaughan leads Pole-axeing"
. The Football Association. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2008
. Retrieved
27 March
2007
.
- ^
Mike Keegan (22 August 2012).
"Manchester City footballer Michael Johnson due in court on drink driving charges"
.
Manchester Evening News
. Retrieved
21 January
2013
.
- ^
"Manchester City star, Michael Johnson, handed £5,500 fine for drink driving offences"
.
Messenger Newspapers
. Newsquest (North West). 13 September 2012
. Retrieved
21 January
2013
.
- ^
Brennan, Stuart (16 January 2013).
"My torment, by City star Michael Johnson"
.
Manchester Evening News
. Archived from
the original
on 20 January 2013
. Retrieved
7 September
2015
.
- ^
"Ex-City star Michael Johnson unveils his latest business venture by opening an estate agent's"
.
Manchester Evening News
. 7 January 2015
. Retrieved
12 April
2015
.
- ^
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2008/2009"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
- ^
"Games played by Michael Johnson in 2010/2011"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm
. Retrieved
5 July
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]