Full name |
Andrew Johnson |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | February 10th, 1981 |
| Place of Birth | Bedford, England |
| Height | 5ft 8 and a half |
| Nickname | AJ |
| Position | Striker |
Andrew Johnson started his career off at Birmingham City after being recalled to their youth programme by Bob Latchford, who had made his name at Birmingham before moving to Everton in 1974, but had returned to run the rule over what was now a depleted youth system.
AJ may have taken the scenic route, but he eventually followed in his mentor's footsteps and joined the Blues, but not before he had experienced mixed fortuned with both Birmingham and Crystal Palace.
After only a few performances for Birmingham's first team, he was used as a makeweight in the deal which saw Clinton Morrison move to St Andrews, and AJ head south to ply his trade for Palace.
However, manager Trevor Francis continued to play his preferred main strike partnership of Ade Akinbiyi and Dele Adebola , keeping both Johnson and Palace legend Dougie Freedman on the left-wing and bench, respectively. When Francis was dismissed, and with the Eagles mid-table, he was replaced by Steve Kember , who decided to partner Johnson and Freedman. The new strike partnership initially worked well, with Palace winning their first three games and topping the table. However, the good start to the season did not continue and, with Palace languishing in 20th place in November, Kember was sacked.
Under the aegis of new manager and coach Iain Dowie , Johnson's all-round game improved. Now partnering Neil Shipperley , Johnson ended the season as top scorer in the English First Division (now the Football League Championship ) in the 2003-04 season with 32 goals . Palace reached the Playoffs and were promoted to the Premiership for 2004-05 .
Despite Palace's relegation back to the Championship the following season, Johnson was the highest scoring English player with 21 goals . Although Johnson's detractors noted that 11 of these came from penalty kicks rather than open play (a record for the Premiership ), he himself won 7 of the penalties. Regardless of the proportion of goals that were penalties, Johnson's tally was seen as an impressive achievement for a player in their first season of Premiership football.
In the summer of 2005, with Palace having been relegated, Johnson requested a transfer 
prompting much speculation as to which club he might move to. However, on August 2 , 2005 , Johnson signed a five year contract with Palace for an improved wage (believed to be around £20,000 a week) and pledged to help them regain their place in the top flight. Chairman Simon Jordan blamed Johnson's agent Leon Angel for pressurising Johnson into handing in the transfer request.
Johnson was soon playing alongside Clinton Morrison, who had rejoined Palace from Birmingham for a fee of £2m (three years after Birmingham had bought him in a deal for £3.75m plus Johnson). Morrison was reported as saying that he had returned to Palace specifically to play alongside Johnson, much to the amusement of many Eagles fans, who saw the irony of the deal, Birmingham having effectively paid Crystal Palace £1.75m to take Andy Johnson. The two transfers took place between the Eagles and the former Palace manager Steve Bruce , who had been seen by fans as having betrayed the club by defecting to the Midlands side.
However, due to injury to Johnson, and Morrison's lack of form, the pairing was limited in the early part of the season. With a return to fitness and form, the two soon became Dowie's first choice pairing as the season progressed, with Dougie Freedman adding experience to the strike force.
Palace comfortably made it into a top-six position but failed to recover from a first round defeat at the hands of Watford , being beaten on aggregate in the semi-finals
And so AJ came to the Blues, signing for a record fee of £8.6m in July 2006.
He failed to make an immediate impact, however, failing to score in any of the Blues' pre-season games, but was a new hero to many regardless, and in the first game of the season, against the club who had possibly caused his move to Everton, Watford, AJ hit his first Everton goal.
There was no stopping him now, and he scored in 6 of his first 7 games for the Blues, including a famous brace in his first Merseyside derby, which saw him instantly propelled to almost God-like status.
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