Paton, John

P | Player Pics | World War Two | A-Z of Players

---

Personal

Fullname: John Aloysius Paton
aka: John Paton, Johnny Paton
Born: 2 April 1923
Died: 1 October 2015
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 28 May 1942; 30 May 1947
Left: July 1943 (RAF); 9 Sep 1949 (Brentford)
Position: Outside-left
Debut: St Mirren 0-2 Celtic, Regional League, 16 Jan 1943
Internationals: none

---

Biog

John Paton was born and raised into a staunch Celtic family and began his football apprenticeship just a kick away from Celtic Park with St Mary’s Calton.

Celtic was in the blood, as the outside-left’s grandfather Billy McVey held Celtic Season Ticket No.2 while his father Johnny had played for the Celts, although not in a competitive match.

John Paton signed for his beloved Hoops from Dennistoun Waverly in May 1942 and he made his debut for the Bhoys in a 2-0 Regional League victory at St Mirren on 16th January 1943.

A schoolboy and junior international John Paton – a press photographer by trade – was a clever forward whose years at Parkhead were interrupted by World War Two. John Paton would serve in the RAF and he represented the service in a team which featured the talents of Stanley Matthews. During the war years he also guested for a host of English clubs.

John Paton even spent a period as a guest at the American Soccer League side New York Americans while stationed in the United States during the war.

It’s post-war where he seems to have made a mark. Not always a first choice it seems from the outset. Whilst the squad was over loaded with right sided players, John Paton was the left-wing regular apart from Konrad Kappler’s seven appearances.

His most valuable game was likely in the Victory in Europe Cup where he scored the equalising goal in the one-off game and then later he won the corner that won Celtic the cup (Celtic actually drew the match, but the result was decided on number of corners).

He returned to duties proper at Parkhead in May 1947, which prior included a spell at Chelsea in season 1946/47.

John Paton explained how his move to Stamford Bridge from Celtic transpired:

‘It was the first season after the war and it was very difficult because up until that time I was playing for different clubs as a guest.
‘I guested for Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Manchester City and Leeds.
‘I was a navigator in the RAF and when the war finished we kept getting dumped into different depots in various parts of the country. You could go to the local football club and ask if you could play for them on the Saturday, and if they knew who you were they’d phone Celtic, speak to my manager, Jimmy McGrory, and ask for verbal permission if they could use me. Then they would just send the registration in the post and that’s all there was to it.
‘As soon as the 1946/47 season started that all stopped. I was travelling up from London, where I was based, to Glasgow, every Friday in order to play for Celtic. I wasn’t getting there until 1am which obviously wasn’t conducive to playing very good football.
‘I’d recently met a girl, who I went on to marry, but before we were married she asked me to meet her friends and family for a Sunday roast. When I took the tube to her house there was a fella coming towards me who said he recognised me. It was Johnny Harris, who played for Chelsea and captained Scotland. He asked what I was doing down in London and when I explained he suggested coming to play for the club. I told him it wasn’t possible as guest appearances were no longer allowed, so Johnny said he would speak to the manager Billy Birrell.
‘Chelsea needed a winger at the time, so they contacted Celtic and asked if they could take me on loan. There were no loan deals at the time so Jimmy McGrory took me into his office, gave me two transfer forms and asked me to sign both of them. He asked for my word that I would go back to Celtic, it was a gentleman’s agreement, and I said that my word is my bond and that I would love to play at the top level of English football. I told him I would come back a better player and that’s what happened.
‘In the Evening Standard it said I’d been transferred to Chelsea for £10,000, which proves you can’t believe anything you read in the newspapers.’

The return to Celtic wasn’t an easy time. He actually only finally made his professional debut for Celtic in 1947/48 despite being on Celtic’s books for so long, hampered by the war.

He had the sad honour to play in what were to be some of the poorest Celtic teams. He even played in the important final league match v Dundee in season 1947/48 to ensure Celtic didn’t get relegated. Thankfully Celtic escaped. He had managed 52 appearances with 12 goals in that difficult season, but things were to change and he survived the culls.

He also played in the Glasgow Cup winning side of 1948/49 so some silverware at least.

A dispute with the club’s management over wages in the summer of 1949 caused Paton to move on.

By the time he joined Brentford in September 1949 for a fee of £5,000, John had made a total of 108 Celtic appearances and scored 29 goals.

Post-Celtic Career
John Paton had a full and satisfying career after he left Celtic. He continued playing for Brentford from September 1949 through till the end of the 1951/52 season, making 90 appearances and scoring 14 goals before, at the age of 29, he turned his hand to coaching becoming player-coach at Watford after gaining his coaching badges in 1951. In mid-season 1955/56 he became player-manager at the club when Len Goulden was sacked.

In 1961 he was working as a scout for Rotherham Utd in Glasgow and Scotland. Just after this, he became a coach at Arsenal and he held this post through to 1965. He was responsible for the development of many of the players in the Arsenal double side of 1971 including Bob Wilson, Jon Sammels, Peter Simpson, George Armstrong, John Radford and Peter Storey.

He was also an accredited press photographer, a well regarded amateur boxer and a professional snooker referee.

He retired living in London, and passed away after a long life at the age of 92 in October 2015.

---

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

---

Pictures

• Player Pics

Links

• World War Two
• Victory Cup
• Victory in Europe Cup

Interviews

• Chelsea interview 1: http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/11/the-weekend-interview-part-one–johnny-paton.html
• Chelsea interview 2: http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/11/the-weekend-interview-part-one–johnny-paton.html
• ITN Interview with Johnny Paton, last surviving pre-war Chelsea player

---

Obituary
Celt of the 1940s – Johnny Paton – passes away

http://www.celticfc.net/news/9254
By: Newsroom Staff on 06 Oct, 2015 12:42

FORMER Celt, Johnny Paton sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 92 surrounded by his family after a brave fight against illness.

The outside-left came from a strong Celtic heritage as his Father also played with the club and his Grandfather held Celtic Season Ticket No.2.

Born on April 2, 1923, the young Johnny sat on his Grandfather’s knee watching the Hoops in the ‘20s and first started playing football with St Mary’s in the Calton.

He joined Celtic as a teenager in 1942 and made his debut that year in the Summer Cup in a 2-1 home win over Partick Thistle and in January of the following year he made his league bow in a 2-0 win over St Mirren in Paisley.

He joined the RAF in 1943 and his wartime travels saw him play on loan for many clubs including Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Leeds United, Millwall and Chelsea as well as appearing for New York Americans in the Bronx in 1944.

In 1947 he returned to the Hoops before moving back south to Brentford in 1949 before a spell at Watford saw him take up coaching where he eventually became player/manager and he finished his career as a coach with Arsenal between 1961 and 1965.

In all competitions, Johnny made over 100 appearances for his beloved Hoops and scored 26 goals.

The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Celtic Park are with the friends and family of Johnny at this sad time.

---

Johnny Paton 1923-2015

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/10/johnny-paton-1923-2015.html

news Fri 2 Oct 2015

Chelsea Football Club is greatly saddened by the passing of our former player Johnny Paton at the age of 92. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Paton was believed to be the oldest living Chelsea footballer prior to his passing and played for the club during the 1946/47 campaign.

A talented left-winger, his season at Stamford Bridge was the first to be played in England following the end of the Second World War, a time when London’s public were hungry for sporting entertainment to brighten their lives following the devastation of the conflict. The attendances to watch Paton and his colleagues were huge.

He was born in Glasgow and was a navigator in the RAF during the War, spending time in various parts of the country. This enabled him, as the rules permitted, to play as a guest for whichever club was closest while based in an area. He appeared for Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Manchester City and Leeds.

His move to Chelsea came about by chance after bumping into an old friend and compatriot, Johnny Harris, who was playing for us at the time. With the Pensioners in need of a winger, Harris spoke to manager Billy Birrell, who contacted Paton’s parent club Celtic and arranged a deal for him to move south on loan.

He made his debut against Everton early in December 1946 and scored his first goal for the club on Boxing Day, in a 1-1 draw away at Preston North End. Two days later he was on target again, this time in a 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers. In March, he scored our second goal in a 2-0 win over Brentford.

The most memorable match of the campaign however was an FA Cup third round win over Arsenal, which came at the third time of asking after the teams had drawn 1-1 in the original match and again in the first replay.

The second replay was at the neutral venue of White Hart Lane with Paton supplying the cross from which legendary centre-forward Tommy Lawton headed home our second goal. The two men developed a marvellous on-pitch understanding during the brief period they played alongside each other.

Paton ended the 1946/47 season having made 23 appearances and with three goals to his name. He returned to Celtic but his later career brought him south again where he made his home and he was a guest at Stamford Bridge on numerous occasions.

During half-time of our home game against Southampton in December 2013 he was brought out on to the pitch and introduced to the crowd. With the team trailing 1-0, Paton took the microphone and memorably urged our supporters to roar the team back into the game. Within four minutes of the restart we were level before going on to win 3-1.

Back at the Bridge at the 2014 Annual Lunch and as one of the many former Blues invited, he once again gave an impromptu speech on his appreciation for the way the past players are treated and received a standing ovation for his heartfelt words. His warmth and engaging character always shone through and football was his life blood to the end. He died peacefully surrounded by his family after a brave fight against bone cancer.

Chelsea Club historian Rick Glanvill writes:

I remember the first time I spoke to Johnny. I had tracked him down and rang him up just as he and his wife were about to go out dancing. They were both in their late 80s!

‘Och, no one is interested in an old man like me,’ he joked. In fact he was overjoyed to talk about the wonderful year he spent on loan at Stamford Bridge, and eulogised about the centre-forward who regularly dispatched his crosses from the wing: Tommy Lawton.

Though a Celtic man, his passion for the Pensioners had never dimmed and he was happy to sing the praises of Didier Drogba with an eye for details of his game.

I informed him that he was Chelsea’s oldest living player and, once he had stopped mocking himself for it, the honour became one he would mention regularly with immense pride. Johnny was a popular and engaging guest at many club events, and would sing the praises of the way Chelsea now looks after former players such as himself.

Chelsea’s last surviving pre-Ted Drake era player has gone. We will miss him hugely.

---

Johnny Paton

Source: http://scotlandsfootballers.com/index_002.htm
The son of a Celtic reserve team player, John Aloysius Paton was a schoolboy internationalist (in the company of George Young and Billy Steel) while at St Mungo’s Academy, and he was signed by Dennistoun Waverley from St Mary’s Calton in 1939. He was capped by Junior Scotland before signing for Celtic in May 1942, and made his first team debut in the Summer Cup.

He was very familiar with Celtic Park, not only as a spectator in the company of his father and grandfather, but as a press photographer with the Scottish Daily Express and Sunday Express.

Paton was also a keen boxer, and was welterweight champion for the Air Training Corps in 1942. Called up by the RAF who trained him as a navigator, he was stationed in Canada and turned out for a New York team, and played for the RAF against Sweden and Denmark in 1945, with Stanley Matthews on the other wing,

He guested for several clubs during the Second World War, including Arsenal, Manchester City, Millwall, East Fife, Leeds United and Crystal Palace.

As peacetime football restarted in 1946/47, after playing for Celtic in five League Cup ties he was effectively loaned to Chelsea, where he scored three times in 23 League and FA Cup ties, making a good impression with clever footwork and accurate crosses, the principal beneficiary being England centre forward Tommy Lawton. Back at Parkhead, he was first choice outside left for the following two seasons, the first of which brought a brush with relegation as Celtic finished in 12th place, just four points ahead of second bottom Airdrieonians. The joke around Parkhead was that no-one knew that Johnny was in the team, as the cheer which greeted the announcement of Charlie Tully at inside left drowned out mention of his winger.

Although they recovered to finish sixth the following season, Celtic were some way from challenging for honours and Paton was transferred to Brentford in September 1949. He had fallen out with the management over summer wages, and Paton went without pay for six weeks. He contacted Bernard Joy, the former Arsenal centre half who wrote for the London Evening Star, asking for his availability to be advertised. Brentford coach Malcolm Macdonald read the article and remembered Paton from his playing days at Celtic. He scored on his debut and became a fans’ favourite, scoring 16 times in 94 League and FA Cup appearances.

He signed for Watford in July 1952 and in three seasons at Vicarage Road scored 17 times in 84 League matches. He was amongst the first batch of players to gain FA Coaching badges while he was at Brentford, where Jimmy Hill and Ron Greenwood were team-mates, and he became player-coach at Watford, and stayed on as coach when he finished playing. In October 1955 he was appointed manager, but they lost to Bedford Town in the FA Cup the following month and the ensuing financial problems contributed to his dismissal in February.

Through his coaching qualifications he had sound contacts in the English game, and was employed by Arsenal as a scout, and then as coach of their Metropolitan League team, through which many of their 1970-71 double-winning team graduated.

When he left Arsenal, he managed an Ealing snooker hall, during which time he qualified as a professional snooker referee, and he also competed, successfully, in ballroom dancing. Paton retained good health and fitness until the last couple of years of his long life

Eugene MacBride and Martin O’Connor, in their Who’s Who “An Alphabet of the Celts”, included an amusing footnote to their biography of Paton. “Johnny’s grandfather, Billy McVey, held Celtic Season Ticket No.2 and as a child Johnny sat on Billy’s knee watching Celtic from stand seat No.2 behind the Directors’ Box. Billy ran a confectioners opposite St Mary’s, Abercromby Street, and on Celtic nights, used to supply the committee and company with cakes.”

---

Johnny Paton – the Arsenal Obituary 2015
by Mark Andrews

John Aloysius Paton 1923-2015http://www.thearsenalhistory.com/?p=12666Johnny Paton: Guest of the Arsenal 1945A one game wonder as wartime guest for the Gunners, he went on to be a hugely popular player wherever he appeared.
Born in Glasgow on 2 April 1923, after a number of junior Scottish clubs he joined Celtic on 28 May 1942, and he then joined the RAF in July 1943.Paton appeared for Arsenal in one match as a guest player from Celtic on 24 February 1945 in a Wartime Football League Cup – South tie against Reading, where he played left wing and scored a goal in the 3-0 victory.In the wartime he played in the American Soccer League for the New York Americans as his role as a navigator saw him stationed in USA.In Britain as well as the Gunners he also guested for: Crystal Palace, Millwall, Manchester City and Leeds in England and East Fife in Scotland. Paton also represented the RAF in wartime games.While still in the RAF Paton joined Chelsea on loan from Celtic in December 1946, returning to Glasgow in summer 1947. But a dispute with management over wages saw him return to London for Brentford on 9 September 1949.He remained at Griffin Park until July 1952 where he moved to Watford. After he finished playing Paton was made manager at Vicarage Road for a short term spell in 1955-56.With an interest in coaching under Walter Winterbottom he took FA coaching badges and worked for the FA.After finishing in football he took over the management of an Ealing snooker hall, at which game he became a professional referee and coach. Additionally he tried his hand successfully at photography, dancing and boxing at various points during his lifetimeJohnny Paton passed away in Stanmore, London, on 2 October 2015 aged 92.

---

Johnny Paton: Energetic left-winger believed to be the oldest surviving footballer to have played for Chelsea

He was a gifted all-round sportsman, being an amateur welterweight boxer and a sprinter in his youth

Ivan Ponting
Monday 7 December 2015 19:15

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/johnny-paton-energetic-left-winger-believed-to-be-the-oldest-surviving-footballer-to-have-played-for-a6763961.html

Paton, during his time with Brentford: he later worked as a press photographer, biscuit salesman and snooker referee
Paton, during his time with Brentford: he later worked as a press photographer, biscuit salesman and snooker referee ( Rex )

At 92, Johnny Paton was believed to be the oldest living Chelsea footballer, a diminutive but endlessly energetic left-winger adept at delivering crosses to the predatory head of England centre-forward Tommy Lawton during the first League season after the war.

The Glaswegian had joined the Bhoys as a 19-year-old in 1942, then served as a navigator during the Second World War, still finding time to guest for Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Leeds United and others, also featuring in the RAF team alongside Lawton’s even more famous international colleague Stanley Matthews.

Having sparkled fleetingly for the Stamford Bridge side, he returned to Celtic in 1947, shining briefly in tandem with gifted inside-forward Charlie Tully before being sold to Brentford of the English Second Division for £5,000 in September 1949. In 1952 he moved on to toiling basement side Watford, with whom he was promoted to the role of player-manager, from which he was dismissed in 1956.

Between 1961 and 1965 Paton coached youngsters for Arsenal, proving a key mentor for such players as George Armstrong, Peter Simpson, John Radford, Jon Sammels and Peter Storey, who went on to enjoy leading roles as the Gunners won the League and FA Cup double in 1971.

An enterprising character who worked at various times as a press photographer and a chocolate biscuit salesman, Paton later ran a snooker hall and was a respected referee on the green-baize circuit. He was a gifted all-round sportsman, too, being an amateur welterweight boxer and a sprinter in his youth.