When Tommy Johnson bucked a trend

Instances of players switching from number 11 to 10 at their club – ‘doing a Gordon Brown’, it might be termed – are not unusual.

With 10 seen as ‘the’ number to have for most attacking players, such a move is often seen as a promotion. Robin van Persie and Mesut Özil at Arsenal, Rafael van der Vaart at Tottenham Hotspur (albeit very briefly) and Rivaldo at Barcelona are notable examples.

In the summer of 2023, Julio Enciso changed from 11 to 10 at Brighton & Hove Albion before he had even played a competitive game. For the Brazil national team, both Ronaldinho and Neymar served apprenticeships in 11 before earning the right to wear 10.

Given that 11 to 10 is the desirable direction to go, it follows that there are very few examples of the opposite – Tommy Johnson at Aston Villa is one of those exceptions.

The attacker joined Villa from Derby County during the 1994-95 season, one of the first signings made by new Villa manager Brian Little. While number 23 was available, he was given 25 to wear.

After a solid half-season – four goals in 11 starts and three substitute appearances – the summer of 1995 saw Johnson switch to 10 after the departure of Dalian Atkinson. Dwight Yorke, who had scored six goals but in 39 league outings, retained the number 18 he had been allocated at the beginning of 1993-94.

However, it was Yorke who started alongside Villa’s new number 9, Savo Milošević, on the opening day of the 1995-96 season as they beat Manchester United 3-1.

The Trinidad and Tobago international scored a penalty that day and it would prove to be a break-out season as he finished with 17 goals in 35 league appearances and 25 goals across all competitions.

That’s not to say that Johnson became a reserve – with Little using a three-man defence, he was often used in an attacking midfield role, behind Yorke and Milošević.

When Villa played in 1-11 as they beat Leeds United in the Coca-Cola Cup final, Johnson was on the bench and Yorke wore 10, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Little tweaked matters for 1996-97.

An article in the Birmingham Evening Mail on August 6 revealed the changes to the Villa numbering for the coming season, understandably focusing more on the aspect of Yorke changing and mentioning in passing that Johnson was moving to 11 to accommodate that.

Previously, central midfielder Andy Townsend had had 11 but he was moving to a more appropriate 6, with Carl Tiler’s move to 18 completing the square.

As mentioned in the article, Julian Joachim also moved, from 26 to 12. Little mentioned European regulations – this was to be the first season where squad numbers would be in use for Uefa competitions, with clubs numbered from 1-25. There was nothing stopping Joachim keeping 26 domestically and wearing a different number in Europe – Manchester United and Newcastle United would provide examples of that in 1996-97 – but it’s nice to see that Little was cognisant of things.

Yorke went on to have another good season and would of course get a big move to Manchester United two years later, wearing 19 as he helped them to win the treble.

While Johnson would appear 20 times in the league in 1996-97, half of those would be as a substitute and he joined Celtic in the spring. When squad numbers were introduced in Scotland the following season, he wore 12 as the Bhoys won the league for the first time since 1988.