Johnny Williamson

Who is Johnny Williamson?

Johnny Williamson is a former footballer who played as a striker for Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers in the 1950s.

Williamson made his Manchester City debut on 1 April 1950 in a 4–1 defeat against Arsenal. He spent the next few years on the fringes of the first team, playing more than half the first team games in only one season, 1953–54, when along with Billy Spurdle, he was Manchester City's joint top goalscorer in with 12 goals.

In 1955 Williamson was playing in the reserves when a new tactic was tried out at the behest of Williamson and Ken Barnes. Inspired by the Hungarian team which had beaten England 6–3 at Wembley, Williamson was deployed as a deep-lying striker in an attempt to draw the opposing centre-half out of position. The tactic worked well, and for the start of the 1954–55 the first-team began to use the tactic, with Don Revie as the deep-lying forward. As a result the tactic became known as the Revie Plan. On occasions when Revie was unavailable Williamson played the role, but made only nine appearances, and was transferred to Blackburn at the end of the season. He did not make much of an impact at Blackburn, making only nine appearances, in which he scored three goals. In 1959 Williamson signed for Hyde United and played in the Cheshire County League. Earlier he had played for Ashton United in the Lancashire Combination.