Liverpool won’t walk alone with ‘Roo’ in their corner
If there is anyone who knows what the Liverpool players will be feeling as they play in Sunday’s Champions League final it’s Craig Johnston, reports Mike Colman
In his heyday with English football giants Liverpool, Australian Craig Johnston was like a force of nature, a bundle of boundless energy chasing down every ball even if it was headed over the sideline.
Nothing has changed. Now approaching 60, the man the British fans and media called “Roo” is still hopping from one project to the next.
There is his skills coaching program which he has brought to thousands of Australian youngsters and hopes to introduce to the UK; his ambassadorial role with Liverpool when they tour; any number of charity and speaking commitments and plans for a touring roadshow ‘Triumph, Tragedy and Legacy – The Craig Johnston Story’ which will combine coaching clinics, functions and fundraising for local clubs.
Coming on top of a raft of enterprises following his retirement from football in 1988, including masterminding and producing the TV program Main Event, coming up with the concept and design for the Adidas Predator football boot and developing the modified junior game Roo Ball, it’s a wonder he ever sits still.
But sit still he will on Sunday morning when Liverpool plays Tottenham in the final of the UEFA Champions League final in Spain.
Johnston will be glued to his TV screen at home in Newcastle and living every moment with his beloved Reds as they try to emulate the feats of him and his teammates back in the 1980s.
During his eight-year 271-game career with Liverpool the club won five League titles, three Milk Cups and five Charity Shields. He scored in the 1986 FA Cup final, won 3-1 over archrivals Everton, and played in the penalty shootout win over Roma in the 1984 European Cup final.
Johnston more than anyone in the country knows what will be going through the players’ minds and bodies as they prepare to run onto Madrid’s Metropolitano stadium.
“It would surprise you,” he says. “Sitting back at home you think it will be this romantic, warm fuzzy feeling but it’s the opposite of that. It’s terrifying.
“Everyone know what it is to have butterflies in their stomach. Getting ready for a big game for Liverpool it was more like a nest of crows.
“It’s like being part of an unresolved drama at the highest level. You’re asking yourself ‘what if we lose?’ I’ll let down everyone who loves me, everyone who loves the game and loves the city.
“On the other hand if you win you’ll never have to buy a pint in Liverpool for the rest of your life. All your football dreams will come true.
“One part of you just wants it to be over. It’s like you’re playing a part in your own movie and you want to know how it ends. Do I die? Do I get the girl?
“That’s all going through your head. You’re playing mind games with yourself so you have to just try to calm down and get into a positive place.
“Then, the moment you cross the line the adrenaline clicks in and you’re in fight mode. That was when I came into my own. I was a scrapper, I backed myself.”
He can say that again. For a moderately talented youngster to make his way to the pinnacle of European football is a million to one shot. For that youngster to come from Newcastle, Australia the odds would be in the billions.
Yet, somehow, Johnston did just that.
As he told interviewer Andy James in a recent edition of his web series The Platform, Johnston was a “soccer weirdo”, a kid who was hooked on black and white TV replays of English football’s Match of The Day, rather than surfing or rugby league.
His desire to make his impossible dream come true was so great that his parents sold their house to pay for him to try out with English club Middlesbrough. At first it seemed they had done their dough.
“I arrived over there aged 17 and I was the worst player at training,” he says. “The worst.”
He practised alone for hours, kicking a ball against the car park wall, making up for what he lacked in natural skill with incredible fitness and determination. At 17 and a half he was the youngest player the club ever signed; just over two years later he was Liverpool’s most expensive signing.
He reached the absolute heights and has experienced some lows but his love for football remains as strong as ever.
“I feel incredibly blessed to have lived such an interesting life and my goal is to leave a legacy,” he says. “I’m passionate about youth development. I’m concerned about kids getting hooked on social media and gaming. They’re going of the rails.
“I want to introduce them to team sport because there is no greater joy in life than that.”
If there is one regret from his amazing career it is that he was unable to represent the Socceroos.
“Back when I was playing, FIFA didn’t have an international calendar with designated breaks and Middlesbrough and Liverpool made it very clear that if I went off to play for Australia against New Zealand or Vanuatu I wouldn’t be getting back into the team. I’d worked too hard to throw it all away.
“Of course I’ve regretted that. One of my biggest loves is being Australian but the way I look at it, every time I pulled on a Liverpool shirt and went out on the field I was representing Australia.”
To watch Craig Johnston on The Platform, go to www.theplatformtv.net
Originally published as Liverpool won’t walk alone with ‘Roo’ in their corner
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