5 transfers that shocked the football world

#4 Mo Johnston to Rangers, 1989

Mo Johnston broke all the boundaries when he moved to Rangers despite being a Catholic

Perhaps no rivalry in European football is quite as bitter as the one between Glasgow clubs Rangers and Celtic, and it’s because it runs far deeper than the beautiful game. Rangers are of course a Protestant club while Celtic are Catholic, meaning there’s an unhealthy dose of sectarianism to the whole thing that other big rivalries simply don’t have. And so naturally – particularly at the peak of the Troubles in Ireland in the 1970’s and 1980’s – both clubs had certain policies. One of which at Rangers was to never sign known Catholic players.

That all changed in 1989 when manager Graeme Souness decided to sign striker Mo Johnston from French outfit Nantes. Not only was Johnston a known staunch Catholic, but he’d actually played for Celtic prior to his Nantes move and had scored bagfuls of goals and even won the Scottish Premier Division title with them. And so naturally, when his move to Rangers was announced, all hell broke loose in Glasgow. Celtic fans burned effigies of Johnston, and even Rangers fans weren’t happy, with some hardcore Protestants vowing never to return to Ibrox.

Throughout the whole issue, somehow both Johnston and Souness kept cool heads and tried to make the move purely about the football. And eventually, Johnston won over the Rangers fans by scoring plenty of goals for his new club and helping them to win two Scottish Premier Division titles during his time there. An injury-time winner against Celtic in November 1989 probably helped, too!