Full name William Herbert Johnso Role Football player Name Bert Johnson | Years Team Place of death Evington, England | |
Date of birth (1916-06-04)June 4, 1916 Place of birth Stockton-on-Tees, England Date of death June 30, 2009(2009-06-30) (aged 93) Died June 30, 2009, Evington, Leicester, United Kingdom | ||
William Albert "Bert" Johnson (4 June 1916 – 30 June 2009), was an English football player, manager and highly influential coach who played as a wing half in the Football League. He played in both the 1946 FA Cup Final for Charlton Athletic.
However, he is perhaps most noted as an influential coach at Leicester City under Matt Gillies. He was originally signed by Gillies as head scout in 1959, but soon become Gillies' assistant manager. He was influential in the signing of both Dave Gibson and Mike Stringfellow, both of whom would become key figure in Leicester's success during the 1960s. Johnson is often credited as having come up with a tactical innovation of switching the positions of Frank McLintock and Graham Cross, upsetting the traditional 1-11 formation. This hugely influenced Liverpool manager Bill Shankly.
Gillies said on the innovation: "confused opposition" as opposition players would often be asked to mark "our [Leicester's] number eight, so they thought Cross was their man, when McLintock had replaced him" as "players hadn't got beyond thinking about numbers then."