J is for Joy!

J is for Joy! Something our next three legends had football fans jumping for! My three J-men are Pat Jennings, 'Jinky' Jimmy Johnstone and Alex James.

BRITISH FOOTBALL LEGENDS: An A-Z Guide

Pat Jennings

Born in Newry in 1945, this goalkeeping great won 119 caps with Northern Ireland and played in two World Cups, retiring after their final World Cup game against Brazil in Mexico in 1986 - on his 41st birthday. A genuine team man, quiet and retiring, with no signs of flashiness apart from his 'party trick' of catching the ball one-handed, Pat came from a small country town of Newry in County Down, Northern Ireland. A gaelic footballer in his youth, he left school at 15 to work as a labourer felling trees, a job he professed to love.

His arrival in pro-football was meteoric: from never having played in any sort of soccer before, in just 18 months he was in the English First Division! He was first spotted by Watford playing for a Northern Ireland youth team. The Hornets signed him in 1963 and then re-sold him the following season to Spurs for £27,000. He'd never been coached before and, by his own admission, he struggled at first. He said at the time: "When people try to get to me, trying to make me do something a certain way, I might as well pack up, I can't do it. I was naturally good at it from the moment I tried it."
Whenever he played for Northern Ireland, the fact that he was a Catholic was cited as proof that sport could cut through the sectarian divide. The mainly Protestant fan-base certainly loved him, although it didn't stop them singing sectarian songs about being 'up to their knees in Fenian blood' right behind his goal! It also, on one occasion before a match, led to a death threat, but Pat insisted on playing on as normal.

Oddly, for such a reserved man, on international tours he roomed with that most flamboyant of stars, George Best, and found him a complete contrast to his public image. "People expect George to be flash, but basically he's very quiet." Former Ireland teammate Gerry Armstrong said of Pat: "For about for or five years, Pat Jennings was probably the best goalkeeper in the world. He gave us so much assurance because even when they got through the defence we knew they still had Pat to beat and that wasn't too often."
With Spurs, Jennings enjoyed great success. In 13 years at White Hart Lane, he won two League Cups, one FA Cup, and one UEFA Cup. After joining Arsenal in 1977, he reached three consecutive FA Cup finals in 1977, 1978 and 1979. Pat eventually became the first player in Britain to top 1,000 league games. He also scored a famous goal against Manchester United in the 1967 Charity Shield - direct from a long clearance! Actor Kenneth Branagh said of him: "Pat Jennings was my idea of the complete sportsman just because he was such a gentleman and those non-flashy, one-handed catches were just incredible!"

He was the Football Writers' Player of the Year in 1973 and PFA's Player of the Year in 1976. He was awarded the MBE in 1976 and the OBE in 1987.

Jimmy 'Wee Jinky' Johnstone

Jimmy Johnstone became a Celtic idol through his fiery performances and his matching flaming red hair. Born in Viewpark, Lanarkshire in 1944, he signed for Celtic as early as 13! Farmed out to Celtic Blantyre for a couple of years, his skills made an instant impression. Johnstone made his first team debut in 1963 and quickly became a favourite amongst the fans for his prowess on the wing, and his rare ability to take on players and open up defences.
'Jinky' at his unstoppable best tore opposition rearguards apart and made the most accomplished defenders look bewildered, baffled and broken. At the Alfredo di Stefano testimonial in Madrid against Real, soon after Celtic had won the European Cup, Johnstone put on a superb show and had the 125,000 Real fans chanting Ole, Ole, every time he went past a man. Later that evening, di Stefano asked Jimmy if he would pose for a group photograph with himself, Puskas, Santamaria and Gento; the greats of European football.

For the record, 'Jinky' scored 130 goals in 498 games for Celtic and won nine League Championships, four Scottish Cups, five Scottish League Cups, and one European Cup. He played 23 times for Scotland and scored four goals. After leaving Celtic in 1975, he had spells with San Jose Earthquakes, Sheffield United, Dundee, Shelbourne and Elgin City. Sadly, he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2002. A fund bearing his name has been set up to raise money for research into the disease.

Alex James

Alex James' amazing ability to control a ball and do the unexpected with it helped make him an Arsenal club legend. Readily recognisable by his famous baggy shorts and his flapping shirt sleeves, no player between the wars attracted more attention, more press coverage or caused more discussion, other than perhaps 'Dixie' Dean.
He was born in Mossend, Lanarkshire in September 1901 and joined Raith Rovers in 1922. He moved to Preston North End in 1925 but, at end of the 1928-29 season, Arsenal's Herbert Chapman signed him for £8,750. In Chapman's flexible new revolutionary playing system, the role of a midfield linkman or 'schemer' went to Alex although, as one who liked to forage forward and score goals, it took him a time to settle into it. By the end of his first season, however, he had scored the winning goal in the FA Cup Final and a decade of Arsenal dominance in English football had begun.

On the field, James was free to roam wherever he liked, performing a role rather than holding a position, making him, arguably, the first truly 'modern' footballer. Throughout the 1930s, Alex remained Arsenal's lynchpin, helping the Gunners to a hat-trick of Championships between 1932 and 1935 as well as a second FA Cup win in 1936. His influence throughout his time with Arsenal can be judged by the fact that, in the 200 appearances he made between August 1930 and May 1937, he was on the losing side in a mere 36 games!