September 27 – Make Your Mind Up Dave

OVER the years there have been numerous footballers that have played for national teams which might not have been their first choice; London-born Muzzy Izzet turning out for Turkey for instance, or more recently, Freddy Eastwood from Basildon in Essex scoring for Wales.

In most cases players use ‘the grandmother’ clause meaning they can play for any country in which any one of their grandparents were born.

Normally players make their decision and stick to it – indeed, once they have played a full international they have no choice – their colours are nailed to whichever flag they have chosen, although some are not quite so decisive.

It was on this day that David Johnson, formerly of Ipswich and Nottingham Forest, was called up to the Wales squad in 1999, the third national squad he had been involved with.

Incredibly, less than a month after being called up for Wales, Johnson decided he was more thistle than daffodil, and publicly committed himself to Scotland instead.

Johnson was born in Jamaica, and turned out for them twice in friendly matches, but as he also had a British passport he was also eligible to play for any of the home nations.

First he tried out the Three Lions, coming on as a substitute against Russia for an England B team in 1998.

Mark Hughes then called him up for Wales, but neglected to play him, meaning Johnson was still free to turn out for whoever he liked.

Craig Brown was the next international manager to cast his eye in Johnson’s direction (seemingly that was all he needed to do), and the striker was och-ayeing and tossing the caber like his wee life depended on it.

With something of an understated style Johnson said at the time: “Questions have been asked about my links with other countries and why Scotland now. The answer is that I was only invited to consider Scotland last week.”

That clears that up then.

As with Wales, Johnson was not selected to play for the Tartan Army, but before he could start learning the words to Danny Boy and getting in an extra big round of Guinness to complete his home nations set, he decided, just like a woman who is late for a party and has tried on every outfit in the wardrobe, that his first choice was actually the best after all, and went back to playing for Jamaica, man.

Johnson was more at home at club level, particularly with Nottingham Forest so here’s a collection of his goals to illustrate just why so many international managers were making eyes his way. It is quite long though, so don’t worry if you don’t watch it all, we won’t tell. Even if you don’t, come back tomorrow to see which popular English family game would lead to one of the most important appointments of modern times.