In a shock move Town striker David Johnson has declared himself Welsh. The 23-year-old striker has in the past appeared for both the England B team and the Jamaican full side as well as spending a game on the bench for the England U21s, however none of these games tied him to any one country and he can still choose which nation he wanted to represent.
As a holder of a British passport born outside the UK Johnno is entitled to play for any of the home countries and had been tracked by Lawrie McMenemy and Northern Ireland. Now he has been named in the Welsh squad to face Switzerland at Wrexham on October 9th.
Johnson says that it was his old Manchester United team-mate and now Welsh caretaker-coach Mark Hughes (a good friend of Manu Thetis as well we remember) who approached the former Bury player about playing for Wales. Johnson said "I have had approaches in the past from Northern Ireland to play for them, but I was very impressed with what Mark and Eric [Harrison, a member of the Welsh coaching staff and also a Man U alumni] had to say to me. There is a new regime there and they told me they felt they had the players to get Wales into the next World Cup Finals, and that's what I'm looking for.
I had several chats with Northern Ireland boss Lawrie McMenemy, and I was very tempted. It is one of the toughest decisions a player in my situation can have to make. I'm not Welsh, I'm not Irish or Scottish and I'm not even English, although I have lived here since I was four. I didn't feel it was right for me to play for a country I had never even been to. But I believe I have made the right decision by deciding to try my luck with Wales. My wife Alison and her parents are Welsh, so it is a country I have been to regularly and have some affection for and affiliation with. I will go to join the Welsh squad and do my very best, and just see whether they like me and I like them and I'm sure it will work out."
The call-up for Johnson along with other probable call-ups is likely to cause Town's game with Crystal Palace on October 9th to be postponed.
Meanwhile the rumour mill continues turning out speculation like it was going out of fashion. David Johnson is once more the subject of transfer talk with stories linking him with Spurs and Newcastle doing the rounds. According to the word on the street he is off to join Kieron Dyer at Newcastle in a cash plus Stephen Glass deal, not sure why we'd want another full back one week after signing Gary Croft, but there you go. The other word on the street is that Charlie Woods and Spurs are after Johnson. This story seems to now be being linked to the Ruel Fox for Town tale which was doing the rounds a few weeks back. Personally I suspect that there is more truth in the Fox story than anything involving a Johnno move. George Burley stated at the weekend that he is not under pressure to sell any of his better players. It is also rumoured that Town were once again watching striker Lee Butler of Cambridge last weekend.
Town reserves play Colchester United reserves tomorrow afternoon (2pm) at Portman Road. The Town squad is: Mike Salmon, John Kennedy, Marco Holster, Stuart Niven, Tony Mowbray, Wayne Brown, Chris Keeble, Jermaine Wright, Jonas Axeldal, Richard Logan, Sean Friars, Adam Tanner, Tomi Niemi, Kevin Inglis, Steven Moffat and Adam Miller. It is likely that Millwall will be watching Adam Tanner once again. If he impresses he could join the South London club on loan later in the week.