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ObituariesPlease email details for the obituary section as well as additions and clarifications with source notes to enquiries@11v11.com
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JANSTA KamilDied. 1999-02-22Janstra died of a brain tumour at the age of 18. He had played for Dukla Prague in the Czech Republic and KSK Beveren in Belgium.
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JEWELL Ronald PercivalBorn: Plymouth 1920-12-06 Died: Yeahampton 2000-02-14An inside forward who played in the Plymouth & District League prior to the war, he later signed amateur forms for Plymouth Argyle and reputedly turned down offers from 1st Divisions for domestic reasons. His only League game came in the early part of the first post-war season of 1946/7. He lined up at outside right for Torquay United against Reading at Elm Park and assisted in a 2-2 draw. He subsequently returned to local non-League football and played for Dartmouth amongst others.
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JOHNSON Thomas "Tucker"Born: Gateshead 1921-09-21 Died: Bournemouth 1999-03-00Tucker signed for Gateshead during the war and played not just for them but also for Sunderland and Middlesbrough during the hostilities. An inside-forward, he scored 19 goals in 52 League games for Gateshead and in August 1948, he was transferred to Nottingham Forest for £10,000. He enjoyed three good seasons at Forest, scoring regularly and assisting others to score. His record shows 27 League goals in 68 appearances and another 3 in 4 F.A. Cup games.
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JOHNSTON JackBorn. Dundee c1922 Died. Queensland, Aust 12.98Jack Johnston was a player with Raith Rovers, Queens Park, Dundee Violet and YM Anchorage. He also represented Scotland against England while on military duty, serving as an officer, in the Indian Subcontinent during the Second World War. He had been a director of the family firm Johnston’s Stores and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1967.
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JOHNSTONE, James (Jimmy)Born: View-park, Lanarkshire 1944-09-30 Died: Uddingston, Lanarkshire 2006-03-13Jimmy Johnstone would never have lasted in the modern world of football. Nothingto do with his ability. Merely the fact that his deep-rooted fear of flying would have prevented him from stepping on to a plane as frequently as the current generation do. Celtic's greatest ever player might have helped his team to become one of Europe's most sought-after opponents, but he hated every minute of every flight to away games in the European Cup. So much so that in November 1968 Johnstone struck a deal with his manager, Jock Stein, that he would be spared the long flight to Yugoslavia for the return match of a European Cup tie with Red Star Belgrade if he helped Celtic acquire a three-goal lead from the first match, played in Glasgow. Johnstone duly tore one of Europe's eminent teams apart, scoringtwice and laying on three other goals in a 5-1 victory. The tiny winger fled from the pitch at Celtic Park after the final whistle in tears, shouting: "I'll not need to go!" His team-mates thought Johnstone was going mad. "None of us knew," said Billy McNeill, the Celtic captain of the time. "He was a nightmare to sit beside on a flight and he transferred that fear to everyone else. However, Jock treated Jimmy differently from the rest of us and handled him superbly." Ironically, Johnstone had been dubbed "The Flying Flea" by the French press after one game where his touch-line trickery had tormented Nantes. "Jimmy must have kept the ball for an hour that night," said his colleague and great friend, Bobby Lennox. Johnstone and his Celtic colleagues were pioneers. They were the first British side ever to win the European Cup, claiming club football's biggest prize by defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon in 1967 (and becoming known as the "Lisbon Lions"). It was the pinnacle of Johnstone's football career, and that year, at the age of 23, he received wider recognition for his gifts when he finished third in the European Footballer of the Year award. That said more about him than the paltry collection of just 23 caps he received for Scotland. Celtic, though, were Johnstone's true admirers and his 15 years at the club spanned its greatest epoch, with nine successive Scottish League titles, Johnstone making 515 appearances and scoring 130 goals. He also played in the 1970 European Cup final, which Celtic lost to Feyenoord, and in two more semi-finals. Yet the man whose name echoed around Europe was quintessentially Scottish. He stood just 5ft 4in tall, and had a skinny frame that said much about the post-war deprivation in the Lanarkshire mining community he grew up in. That low centre of gravity and impeccable balance - Johnstone used to practice the skill by walking around the top pole of the fence that surrounded his local football pitch in Viewpark - meant Johnstone could twist in any direction without falling over. He was nicknamed "Jinky" by the Celtic supporters for the way he jinked past opponents. Johnstone was the icon of that great Celtic side and in 2002 he was voted the club's greatest ever player by fans. The club, which he had supported as a youngster, continued to be his passion long after he stopped playing and he could often be seen at Celtic Park as a match-day host until he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2001. He also continued to live in the same area that had nurtured his talent all those years before. Jimmy Johnstone was born in View-park, Lanarkshire in 1944. His father, Matt, worked in the local colliery and was Jimmy's greatest supporter. The boy's biggest influence was Sir Stanley Matthews, the former England player whose autobiography he had read aged 12. Jimmy used to dribble around milk bottles every day in his hallway for three hours to perfect his dribbling skills. He had read that Matthews used to walk to Blackpool's ground wearing heavy boots to strengthen his leg muscles, so Jimmy started wearing pit boots and would sprint and play football in the them. "I was about 17 at the time and it probably added about three yards on to my pace," he recalled later. Word of Jimmy Johnstone's talent reached Manchester United and he played a trial, but that simply prompted Celtic to sign him. He made his first-team dbut at the age of 19 in 1963, but it was not a good era for Celtic and one in which they were overshadowed by their Glasgow rivals, Rangers. The arrival of Jock Stein as manager in 1965 changed the lives of Johnstone and his colleagues forever. "Jock was good with tactics, but his real talent was with people," Johnstone once said. "To me, big Jock wasn't just a manager. It was as if he could read your mind. He knew if you had a problem." Johnstone frequently did. Even though he loved to entertain the crowds, he was uncomfortable with fame and ended up too often in bars. Stein used his network of Celtic-supporting informants to let him know whenever Johnstone was out drinking and the little winger would get a call at the pub, his face turning white as he realised it was Stein on the other end of the phone. Johnstone's relationship with drink deteriorated as his Celtic career came to a close in 1975. It was also responsible for a moment that became part of fan folklore, when, in May 1974, just days before a game with England, Johnstone and other Scotland players embarked on a drinking session at their hotel in Largs, Ayrshire, that saw them head down to the edge of the sea at 5am, with Johnstone deciding to go out in a rowing boat. Soon he was adrift in the Atlantic. Willie Ormond, the Scotland manager, was not amused the next morning when Johnstone's jaunt hit the headlines after the coastguard had to be called out to rescue him. "I never thought it would attract the attention it did and I do regret the publicity, because that hurt my family," Johnstone reflected later. Just weeks later, Johnstone went to the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany, but never played a game. It was his and Scotland's greatest loss. Some national managers appeared unwilling to play Johnstone and Willie Henderson, the Rangers winger, in the same team, but he insists there were other reasons that contributed to his meagre total of caps. "I preferred playing for Celtic," Johnstone once said. "I had a couple of bad experiences playing for Scotland, when I was booed by our own fans. I may have been playing a stinker, but I didn't feel right after certain fans booed me because I was a Celtic player." After leaving Celtic in 1975, Johnstone moved to Sheffield United, Dundee and even Elgin City in a series of brief pitstops that mirrored George Best's career once he left Manchester United. He eventually returned to Celtic Park in the mid-1980s to coach younger players. When his illness was discovered, Johnstone embarked on fund-raising for motor neurone disease and was even immortalised on a limited-edition Faberg egg to raise money. "Jimmy was among the greatest players this game has seen," said Billy McNeill. "However, I have as much respect for him as a man and the courageous way in which he handled his illness as I have for him as a footballer." Phil Gordon, The Independent (www.independent.co.uk)
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JONES DavidBorn. Whitwell, Derbyshire 9.4.14 Died. Scarborough 7.98Jones joined Bury for £50 from Worksop Town as a player in the close season 1934 and stayed until being appointed coach in 1949. His was an inspired signing as he made his debut at right half in September 1934 and kept his place until 1948. Although his career, like so many others, was devastated by the war he managed over 400 appearances for the club. He also became a regular county cricketer with Nottinghamshire.
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JONES David C NBorn. 1909 Died. Boston 22.1.99David covered Ashton United from 1930 (when the club was still known as Hurst F.C.) until 1995 for the Ashton Reporter newspaper. During this long spell the highlights included seeing the legendary Dixie Dean sign for the club in 1939, the name change to Ashton United in 1947 and winning the North West Combination title in 1992. He was editor of the Ashton Reporter group from 1952 to 1974 and was latterly President of Ashton United.
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JONES JohnAs well as being generally nicknamed Jack, he was also known as "Soldier" to the fans at Third Lanark as he signed for the club in 1937 whilst serving in the Army. Celtic had earlier thought that they had signed him as an amateur but the lure of professional terms with proved Third Lanark was too great and he quickly established a regular place in their League team.A striker with a direct and robust style of play he was not over-awed by playing alongside the likes of Jimmy Mason and Neally Dewar. In the last pre-war season he scored 28 goals in major competitions including 22 in the League. He continued to play for the club for much of the war, bringing on young players and still scoring his share of goals. Among those who benefited from his craft were Archie Hart and Bobby Mitchell. After missing the whole of the 1945/6 season, he made a rather poignant return for the club to play just one official post-war League appearance for the club against Morton. But for the war he might well have been in contention for international honours. As it was he was selected for a Scottish F.A. XI to tour Canada and USA in the summer of 1939. At the end of the 1946/7 season, he was given a free transfer and had a brief spell at Stranraer before retiring.
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JONES LeonardBorn. Barnsley 9.6.13 Died. Chelmsford 4.98After a spell as an amateur with Huddersfield Town, Len joined Barnsley as a professional in August 1933. He made his first League appearance as an outside right at home to Norwich in the 2nd Division (2-2) but it was as a right half that he eventually established himself as a permanent fixture in the side at the start of the 1936/7 season. After 51 League appearances for 1 goal he surprisingly left for Chelmsford City in 1938. After one season out of League football, he signed for Plymouth Argyle just before organised League football was disbanded due to the war. With no wartime football played by Plymouth for most of the war years, he made just 30 wartime appearances for the Argyle but he was a fairly regular team player during the first two seasons of post-war soccer. He then embarked on spells with Essex clubs, Southend United and Colchester United where remarkably, considering he was now at the veteran stage of his career, he reverted to the right wing and was known as the 3rd Division’s Stanley Matthews. At Colchester he was signed to provide experience to a team just about to start life in the Football League and he played in the club’s first League match at Gillingham where the U’s fought a 0-0 draw in front of 19,542. He played his last League game for Colchester just a few weeks away from his 40th birthday. He then signed for Ipswich but did not play for their first eleven. Career details:
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JOYCE WalterBorn. Oldham 10.9.37 Died. Lancashire 10.99Walter came to prominence as a young player in the season after Burnley had won the League Championship and played all four of the club’s European Championship matches. In the event his playing career never really reached the heights and he was a steady wing-half who served all his three League clubs well. He became a coach at Oldham when he finished playing and then became manager of Rochdale in July 1973 to May 1976. He was coach and assistant-manager from 1978 to 1985 and then coach and later assistant-manager at Preston from 1986 until 1992. He later took charge of youth development at Bury and at the time of his death was working as a youth scout for Manchester United. His best work as a coach was achieved when working with young players and he created one of the best youth schemes outside of the Premiership at Preston. His son, Warren Joyce was the manager of Hull City. He is now on the coaching staff at Leeds United. Career details:
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