Johnny Paton

Who is Johnny Paton?

John "Johnny" Paton is a Scottish former association football player, manager and scout, and later a professional snooker referee. He is currently the oldest surviving Chelsea player and was a special guest of honour at Chelsea Football Club at their centenary dinner, in 2005. Born in Glasgow, Paton played on the outside-left and spent seven years playing for Celtic making a total of 108 appearances and scoring 29 goals, although part of this period coincided with the Second World War where he would serve in the RAF. He represented the service in a team which featured the likes of Sir Stanley Matthews. During the war years he also guested for a host of English clubs. From 1946–47 he spent time on loan at English club Chelsea, where he made 23 appearances and scored 3 goals. He then joined Brentford in September 1949 for £5,000 for whom he played a total of 90 matches, scoring 14 goals, before then moving onto Watford in 1952. He played 84 matches and scored 17 goals for The Hornets, the team he would be appointed manager in October 1955. He relinquished the role four months later after just two wins from his fifteen Football League matches at the helm. He also had a stint as coach to the Arsenal youth team.