Baggies swoop for midfielder?

18 September 2001

Albion have reportedly signed the Welsh international midfielder Andy Johnson from Nottingham Forest subject to the results of a medical he took last night. Birmingham City failed in a bid to sign Johnson last season despite offering £900,000 plus Peter Ndlovu. However, the Birmingham Post this morning believes that Albion have only had to pay in the region of £200,000.

The 6ft tall, 27 year-old Johnson is another hard tackling, 100% effort player who has sometimes been compared to Bryan Robson. Conversely, some Forest fans have ungraciously called him a "headless chicken" and say he's prone to giving the ball away as soon as he's won it. The available evidence suggests that there's rather more to him than that. Forest had paid £2.2 million to sign Johnson from Norwich in 1997. That fee rose by a further £300,000 when a very impressive Forest side won promotion from Division 1. Johnson seems to be a somewhat injury prone, but made 34 appearances for Forest in their promotion-winning season, and appeared 28 times during Forest's Premiership campaign which ended in relegation. Johnson has also won 7 caps for Wales.

He's only made one appearance for Forest so far this season, though. He's in a contract dispute and his contract runs out at the end of the season, hence the reportedly low fee Albion have had to pay. Forest manager Paul Hart has made it clear that he has no room for unsettled players in his side, which probably explains Johnson's absence from the first team this season.

However, the threat of legal action by former Albion player Georges Santos still hangs over Johnson after an incident during a Forest v Sheff Utd game in March 2001. See the following article for more details:

Santos to mount legal case against Johnson

Here's Johnson's profile from the official Nottingham Forest website:

Andy Johnson

"A highly competitive figure in Forest?s midfield engine room and a player who commands the greatest respect from opposition."

"He?s also a big favourite with Forest fans because of his commitment to the cause."

"Yet another player who was forced to spend part of last season on the sidelines through injury - although he still clocked-up more than 30 appearances and scored two goals."

"Although born in Bristol, he qualifies for Wales and has won international recognition for his adopted nation."

"Launched his career with Norwich and helped Forest win the Division One title in his first season at The City Ground."

Another profile at www.soccer90.com says:

"A classy midfielder, Johnson's excellent passing and vision has made him an integral part of the side, when fit."

There are also some further interesting insights on the player on these pages:

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/2899/johnson.htm

http://www.altcanaries.co.uk/archive/ExPlayers/Andy_Johnson.htm

http://www.thisisnep.co.uk/nottsredline/squad/johnson.htm

- Spooky

Previous Stories:

13 September 2001: Moore to sign!

11 September 2001: The Moore saga ends

10 September 2001: Striker chaos

Baggies swoop for midfielder?

18 September 2001

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