TWTD columnist John Scales was somewhat surprised when we told him that a fee had been agreed with Forest for David Johnson. Scales said that the players had heard nothing from the striker about the deal with Nottingham Forest even though Johnson had trained with them on Thursday.
The Town centre-half said: "Bloody hell!! Bloody hell! Bloody hell! Well that shows what I know! Well that’s surprising isn’t it? Well, surprising from the perspective that we, the players, didn’t know about it. Obviously we are strong up front with five strikers so he was probably going to make way and just had to get the best deal for the club. £3 million is not a bad deal at all."
John Scales regular column is now available on the site at: http://www.twtd.co.uk/scales
If he agrees to join Forest David Johnson will leave Town with a pretty respectable goalscoring record. Johnson made 121 (10 as sub) League appearances for Town scoring 55 goals. In cups and play-off games Johnno played 28 games and scored 8 goals.
He joined Town in November 1997 from Bury for £800,000 plus Chris Swailes who was rated at £300,000. Johnson went goal crazy from the word go, scoring a goal on his debut at Wolves. He ended that season having scored 30 goals for both Bury and Town and was top scorer for both clubs. He was also top scorer in his two full seasons with Town.
This season things didn't go so well. Despite praise for his early appearances, most notably from Alex Ferguson after the 1-1 draw with Manchester United, the goals just didn't come. Meanwhile Marcus Stewart starting putting the ball away week after week and the two of them weren't hitting it off on the pitch. As a consequence Johnson found himself a regular on the bench.
It seems Johnson was not prepared to be a squad player and seems to have requested a move so he could play first team football should an offer come in that the club saw fit to take. Forest's came in and we await the completion of the transfer, probably by the end of the week.