He was brought to the club by Graham Barrow and up until that point in his career, he hadn't really done a great deal. He'd spent some time at Wigan and a bit more at Lincoln, followed by a spell playing in Hong Kong before arriving at Spotland.

He made an immediate impact, forming a great partnership at the back with current Dale boss Keith Hill. In what was an otherwise largely forgettable season, Johnson was one of the few highlights.

He was everything. For a start, just by the way he looked, he'd have scared the s**t out of most forwards in our division. It was no wonder that he attracted the nickname of Psycho. You just would not get past him.

But for someone who looked as menacing as he did, he was a very clean player. His reading of the game was wonderful, and whilst if he tackled you you'd have known about it, he always did so fairly and for a central defender of his type, he picked up very few bookings. He'd be flying in to tackles, but would always get the ball.

But after one season where he was ever present and walked away with practically every Player of the Season trophy going, then that was it. In the pre-season build up to the following year, he picked up a ligament injury which if memory serves me right ended up being misdiagnosed, and it eventually transpired that it was a cruciate injury, ruling him out for the whole of the next season, and most of the next.

We had a brief comeback from him where he managed a handful of appearances from him, but it was never the same, and that injury had pretty much robbed him of his career. A real shame for both the club and the player. But while it lasted, there was no one better.

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