The Thistle Archive

The prolific striker burst onto the Scottish football scene at the age of just 16, scoring the winning goal for Rangers against Celtic in the 1970 League Cup final. He was superb in the air and extremely versatile, playing in a number of positions for Rangers including centre half, centre-forward, midfield and on the left-wing. Johnstone went on to become a mainstay for the Ibrox side during the 1970s. He was in the Rangers team which won the Cup Winners Cup in 1972 and was Rangers’ leading scorer in both of the club’s treble winning seasons, in 1976 and in 1978. Despite not always playing as striker, Derek scored over 200 goals in almost 550 games for Rangers, and domestically won three League Championships, five League Cups and five Scottish Cups. He was voted Scottish Players’ Player of the Year in 1978 and won 14 caps for Scotland.

Despite his impressive credentials on the domestic front, Derek's international career was less celebrated. Willie Ormond handed the 19-year-old his debut on 12 May 1973, a 2-0 British Championship win away to Wales in Wrexham. He did get off to a good start as, just 6 weeks later, he was winning his 5th cap already, appearing in the SFA's 100th anniversary game against the Brazilians in front of 78,181 at Hampden Park. Derek scored the only goal of the game that day but, unfortunately, it was into the wrong net; Scotland 0 Brazil 1! It would be 16 months before Derek won his next cap. He did make the provisional 40 man squad list for the Germany World Cup in 1974, but didn't make the 22-man cut that travelled to the tournament.

The 22-year-old Derek, by now playing for Scotland in the centre-forward role under Ally MacLeod, scored his first goal for the country on 13 May 1978 in a 1-1 British Championship draw at home to Northern Ireland, his flying header in the 36th minute equalising matters. Just 4 days later, he had his second goal, a fantastic bullet-header in the 10th minute giving Scotland the lead in a 1-1 draw against Wales. By the time of this midweek game, Derek was at the zenith of his powers. He had been voted Scottish Players’ Player of the Year and also won the Sportswriters’ equivalent. He had finished as top scorer in Scotland with an impressive 38 goals (25 in the league) in 1977-78. Just 11 days earlier, he had scored the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final vs. Aberdeen to clinch a second domestic treble in 3 years. He was all set for the World Cup in Argentina… but didn't get a single minute on the pitch!

In a 2018 piece for the Evening Times, Derek talked of his disappointment over Argentina '78:

There was belief in the support because Ally kept ramming in down their throats that we were going to win the World Cup and come back with the gold medal. The players just looked at each other in disbelief. We couldn’t come out and say we had no chance. All we said was that we would try our best and see what happens, which any normal player would do. You felt as though the whole country was at Hampden to see us off, which I was embarrassed about. There was a lot of pressure put on the players because of what the manager said. Wee Joe Harper, who is my pal, wasn’t involved in the first game. He was doing co-commentary with Arthur Montford. He comes in for the second game rather than me and that was a real kick in the teeth for me. I knew that I had no chance of playing. Sometimes managers like you and sometimes they don’t. Ally obviously didn’t like me. The whole thing was just a huge disappointment. Never mind me individually, that’s life, but for the team and the country it was a huge anti-climax.

Derek got one last chance for Scotland in the Jock Stein era, being partnered with Kenny Dalglish for a disastrous Euros Qualifier against Belgium at Hampden, just before Christmas 1979, in which Scotland were 0-3 down at half-time. Stevie Archibald and Andy Gray were the emerging talents and that was it for Derek in the dark blue of Scotland. Having been placed on the transfer list by John Greig in April 1983, Derek left Rangers after the 1983 Scottish Cup Final defeat against Aberdeen to join Chelsea for a £30,000 transfer fee. Signed in September 1983, Derek provided extra cover in the Chelsea squad which won the Second Division title in 1984. He failed to dislodge the established forward duo of Kerry Dixon and David Speedie and made just four appearances, with a month on loan to Dundee United - the team he supported as a boy - during the 1983–84 season.

Derek was tempted back to Ibrox by Jock Wallace in January 1985 for £25,000, but it was a Rangers side that was in the midst of a doleful period in their history. It was hoped that the return of a former favourite could galvanise an ailing team. However, it failed to work out and, after 23 appearances and one goal, Johnstone was handed a free transfer when Graeme Souness took over the reins at Ibrox in the summer of 1986. As it turned out, the timing was perfect for Derek in one way. At this time, his old chairman at Chelsea, Ken Bates, was in talks with the Partick Thistle with a view to taking over as the club's controlling shareholder. The peanuts takeover, a mere £100,000, was announced on 27th June 1986 and it became clear that Ken Bates was wasting no time in calling the shots. His friend Miller Reid was immediately re-instated as chairman, Barry Speirs of Chelsea was appointed to the board as right-hand man, and Derek Johnstone was imposed as player-coach, with next to no consultation with manager Bertie Auld. A few weeks later, getting wind of Johnstone's salary and perks, assistant manager Mike Jackson quit and, 4 days later, Bertie did likewise, unhappy at having been undermined with regards to Johnstone's appointment in the first place. It was a somewhat bewildered Derek Johnstone who took on the role of Partick Thistle's first-ever player/manager. He thought he was joining as a coach, but the resignation of the Bertie Auld / Mike Jackson managerial partnership left him in an unexpected situation. Fair play to him for stepping up, but the foundation stones weren't solid.

With Thistle still searching for a first league win on match day seven, Derek played himself up front on 13 September 1986 in a Firhill encounter vs. Morton. He was clearly off the pace and Jags were 1-3 down at half-time. Subbing himself off at half-time didn't help; Partick Thistle 2 Morton 5. It was a disastrous day, and the Firhill crowd really turned against him at that point. To be fair to him on the playing front, he worked at his fitness before re-appearing on the pitch and Thistle never lost on his three other league appearances, a 2-1 win at Forfar (13 Dec 1986), a 1-1 draw at East Fife (24 Jan 1987) and a 0-0 draw at home to Brechin City (7 Feb 1987). After a 1-2 home defeat to Kilmarnock on 5 March (a 4th consecutive defeat) Derek was sacked, much to his own shock, although Thistle fans were relieved as the whole appointment had clearly been a mistake. Scunnered, Derek never returned to professional football.

After leaving Partick Thistle, Derek worked in the football media, including BBC Scotland, Scottish Television, Radio Clyde, GO Radio and Real Radio Scotland, where he co-presented the station's football phone-in until the end of the 2011–12 season. He also co-commentates on Rangers matches for the club's TV channel.

Derek is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →