Roger Johnson (footballer)

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Roger Johnson
Roger Johnson.jpg
Johnson in Wolves pre-season, 2011
Personal information
Full name Roger Johnson[1]
Date of birth 28 April 1983 (1983-04-28) (age 28)
Place of birth Ashford, Surrey, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number 14
Youth career
1998–2000 Wycombe Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2000–2006 Wycombe Wanderers 156 (19)
2006–2009 Cardiff City 119 (12)
2009–2011 Birmingham City 76 (2)
2011– Wolverhampton Wanderers 25 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 February 2012.
† Appearances (Goals).

Roger Johnson (born 28 April 1983 in Ashford, Surrey)[1] is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Johnson began his career with Wycombe Wanderers, where he spent six years as a professional. He then joined Welsh side Cardiff City in 2006 for £275,000. He was part of the team that reached the 2008 FA Cup Final and was twice chosen as the club's Player of the Year in his three year stint with the club. He signed for Birmingham City in 2009 for £5m. He was part of the team that went on a club record 12 match unbeaten run and that won the 2011 Football League Cup Final. He departed Birmingham in 2011 after their relegation from the Premier League to join Midlands neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Wycombe Wanderers

Johnson is a product of the Wycombe Wanderers youth set-up, joining the club at the age of 15 having previously spent time at Portsmouth and Bournemouth, and made his first-team debut for Wycombe in the final game of the 1999/2000 season against Cambridge United, becoming the youngest ever player to make a Football League appearance for the club at the time, at the age of 17 years and 8 days. The 2003–04 season saw Johnson in and out of the side under manager Tony Adams but he was still awarded the Fans' Player of the Year Award.[2]

After the departure of Adams after one season, Johnson became a regular in the side and was handed the captaincy by new manager John Gorman when he took over in November 2004, as well as finishing second in the player of the year award to forward Nathan Tyson.

[edit] Cardiff City

On 4 July 2006, after 182 appearances and 22 goals for Wycombe, he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £275,000, despite their local rivals Swansea City attempting to sign him, including having a £100,000 bid rejected by Wycombe.[3]

Johnson had a strong first year at Cardiff, and after spending the first six months as a regular substitute, began to form a dominant pairing with Dutchman Glenn Loovens which saw them keep club captain Darren Purse out of the side. In the 2007/08 season he began to grab goals for the side, scoring late winners against Norwich City[4] in the League and Brighton[5] in the League Cup as well as vital equalisers against Hull City[6] and Preston North End.[7] Johnson scored the second goal of Cardiff's memorable 2–0 away victory over Premier League Middlesbrough in the 2007–08 FA Cup Quarter Final[8] and his header in the Severnside Derby match against Bristol City in March 2008 was his seventh of the season.[9] He also played in all 6 of Cardiff's matches on their way to reaching the FA Cup Final before losing 1–0 to Portsmouth and at the end of the season he was awarded the club's Player of the Year award.[10]

[edit] 2008–09

The summer transfer window saw prolonged interest in Johnson with both Ipswich Town[11] and West Bromwich Albion[12] having bids rejected. Despite the interest Johnson remained with the side into the new season although he did see his centre-back partner Glenn Loovens leave to join Celtic. On the opening day of the season, Johnson scored a late winning goal against Southampton as Cardiff came away with a 2–1 win and despite continued changes in his defensive partner, having played alongside Loovens, Purse and new signing Gábor Gyepes who forced his way into the side past Purse in November,[13] Johnson remained the only player to have played every minute of the season for Cardiff, as well as passing the 100 appearances mark, until April 2009 when he was forced off during a 2–0 victory over Crystal Palace after being hit in the throat by an elbow from Palace defender Claude Davis. After the incident Johnson suffered breathing difficulties and was forced to spend two nights in hospital as well as having daily checks throughout the following week.[14][15] Davies was later found guilty of violent conduct by the FA and was banned for three matches.[16][17]

Johnson was forced to miss the side's next match, a 3–1 win over Burnley, but returned for the 6–0 defeat to Preston North End the following week. On 26 April, he was awarded the club's player of the year award for the second year in a row and was named in the Championship team of the year.[18][19]

[edit] Birmingham City

Playing for Birmingham, September 2009

In June 2009, after two previous bids had been rejected, Cardiff accepted an offer of £5m from Birmingham City.[20] Johnson, described by former teammate Tony Capaldi as "definitely captain material",[21] signed a three-year deal with the club on 25 June 2009, stating "Premier League football is the dream at the start of any footballer's career so I am pleased I have been given that chance with Birmingham and I can't wait to get started."[22] He made "an impressive debut" in Birmingham's first match of the season, a 1–0 defeat at Manchester United.[23] Johnson was part of the Birmingham team which went 12 games unbeaten, a club record for the top flight;[24] at Christmas 2009, The Times' correspondent Patrick Barclay described him and defensive partner Scott Dann as "certainties" for his team of the season so far;[25] and Johnson was suggested as a possible England player.[24] The Daily Mail named Johnson as the 22nd best player of the 2009–10 Premier League season.[26] Johnson scored his first goal for the club away against Bolton Wanderers on 29 August 2010,[27] and his second opened the scoring in the Second City derby against Aston Villa in January 2011.[28]

Johnson's header set up the opening goal for Nikola Žigić as Birmingham City defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 to win the 2011 Football League Cup Final. The Daily Telegraph described him as "an inspiring defensive presence throughout".[29]

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 11 July 2011, Birmingham accepted a bid, reported as £7 million, from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers for Johnson.[30] Two days later, Johnson signed a four-year contract with Wolves. The fee was officially undisclosed, and the club claimed that the reports on its size were inaccurate.[31] A few days later, the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star newspaper reported that the club had in fact paid a flat fee of "just over £4m".[32]

Johnson was almost immediately handed the captaincy of Wolves by Mick McCarthy shortly before the start of the new season, relieving former captain Karl Henry of his duties.[33]

[edit] Club statistics

As of match played 21 August 2011.[34]
Club performance
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Wycombe Wanderers 2000–01 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2001–02 7 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 9 1
2002–03 33 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 35 3
2003–04 28 2 3 0 2 0 3 1 36 3
2004–05 42 6 2 1 1 0 3 0 48 7
2005–06 45 7 1 0 2 1 5 0 53 8
Subtotal 156 19 6 1 6 1 14 1 182 22
Cardiff City 2006–07 32 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 33 2
2007–08 42 5 6 1 4 1 0 0 52 7
2008–09 45 5 3 0 3 0 0 0 51 5
Subtotal 119 12 9 1 8 1 0 0 136 14
Birmingham City 2009–10 38 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 43 0
2010–11 38 2 1 0 6 1 0 0 45 3
Subtotal 76 2 6 0 6 1 0 0 88 3
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2011–12 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Total 353 33 21 2 20 3 14 1 408 39

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Cardiff City
2008
Birmingham City
2011

[edit] Individual

[edit] Personal life

As a youngster he attended Queen Elizabeth's School school[citation needed] in Wimborne, Dorset which is now a specialist sports college. Together with his brothers, Johnson supported Chelsea; he held a season ticket for ten years.[35] He is married to Melissa, whom he met when they were at school together, and together they have a daughter named Brooke.[36]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Hugman, Barry (ed) (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Queen Anne Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-85291-662-1.
  2. ^ "Roger Johnson" chairboys.net Retrieved on 30 January 2009
  3. ^ "Cardiff beat Swansea to Johnson" BBC Sport Retrieved on 29 December 2009
  4. ^ "Norwich 1 – 2 Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 September 2007
  5. ^ "Cardiff 1 – 0 Brighton (aet)" BBC Sport Retrieved on 14 August 2007
  6. ^ "Hull 2 – 2 Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 December 2007
  7. ^ "Preston 1 – 2 Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved on 29 December 2007
  8. ^ "Middlesbrough 0 – 2 Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved on 9 March 2008
  9. ^ "Cardiff 2 – 1 Bristol City" BBC Sport Retrieved on 22 March 2008
  10. ^ "Roger Johnson wins player of the year award" Cardiff City online Retrieved on 30 January 2009
  11. ^ "Bluebirds reject bids for Johnson" BBC Sport Retrieved on 10 September 2008
  12. ^ "Cardiff refuse Ledley Stoke talks" BBC Sport Retrieved on 10 September 2008
  13. ^ "Cardiff City are going up, insists Roger Johnson Western Mail Retrieved on 30 January 2009
  14. ^ "Johnson eager for Cardiff return" BBC Sport Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  15. ^ "Roger Johnson on mend, but Cardiff City boss Dave Jones still fuming" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  16. ^ "Claude Davis banned for three games over Johnson challenge" WalesOnline Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  17. ^ "Davis guilty of violent conduct" BBC Sport Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  18. ^ "Cardiff City supporters club roll call of honour" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 27 April 2009
  19. ^ "Championship team of the year" The Football League Retrieved on 27 April 2009
  20. ^ "Cardiff accept Blues' Johnson bid". BBC Sport, 24 June 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2009
  21. ^ "Birmingham City signing is 'captain material'". Birmingham Mail, 30 June 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009
  22. ^ "Johnson Deal Done" Birmingham City F.C, 25 June 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009
  23. ^ Jolly, Richard (16 August 2009). "Wayne's World" ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 3 April 2010
  24. ^ a b "Fresh fortunes at St Andrew's" FIFA, 15 January 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010
  25. ^ Barclay, Patrick (24 December 2009). "Polished duo Roger Johnson and Scott Dann put case for the defence". The Times. Retrieved 3 April 2010
  26. ^ Bellwood, Tom (28 April 2010). "The List: Sportsmail's top 50 players of the Premier League season Nos 30–21". Daily Mail. Retrieved 8 September 2010
  27. ^ Whyatt, Chris (28 April 2010). "Bolton 2–2 Birmingham" BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 September 2010
  28. ^ Dawkes, Phil (16 January 2011). "Birmingham 1–1 Aston Villa" BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2011
  29. ^ Wilson, Jeremy (27 February 2011). "Arsenal v Birmingham City: player ratings". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 July 2011
  30. ^ "Wolves agree £7m fee to buy Roger Johnson from Birmingham". BBC Sport. 11 July 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14104644.stm. Retrieved 11 July 2011. 
  31. ^ "Roger And In!". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 13 July 2011. http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~2391472,00.html. Retrieved 13 July 2011. 
  32. ^ "Wolves quids in on Roger Johnson and Jamie O'Hara deals". Express & Star. 23 July 2011. http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/2011/07/23/wolves-quids-in-on-roger-johnson-and-jamie-ohara-deals/. Retrieved 23 July 2011. 
  33. ^ "Johnson the new captain". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 2 August 2011. http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~2407703,00.html. 
  34. ^ "Roger Johnson: Career". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=21466. Retrieved 24 August 2011. 
  35. ^ Moxley, Neil (26 December 2009). "'I keep the Shed End in my loft', says Birmingham's very own Chelsea fan Roger Johnson" Daily Mail. Retrieved 8 September 2010
  36. ^ Chamberlain, Zoe (2 May 2010). "Melissa Johnson: I was a WAG before I became Blues' Roger Johnson's wife" Sunday Mercury (Birmingham). Retrieved 8 September 2010

[edit] External links
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad
1995: Williams · 1998: Hallworth · 1999: Nugent · 2000: Legg · 2001: Legg · 2002: Kavanagh · 2003: Earnshaw · 2004: Vidmar · 2005: Barker · 2006: Koumas · 2007: Chopra · 2008: Johnson · 2009: Johnson · 2010: Whittingham · 2011: McNaughton
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roger_Johnson_(footballer)&oldid=478688107"
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