Johnny Gibbons
Forward 1950-1953
Full name : – JOHN RONALD GIBBONS
Born on 8th April 1925 in Charlton, South London, England.
Height : 1.78m (5′ 10″)
Weight : 69.8kg (11st 0lbs)
A forward who spent a three year spell at White Hart Lane, Johnny Gibbons was the oldest Tottenham player of his generation at the time of his death at the age of 95 in 2021.
A South Londoner by birth, Gibbons joined the army in 1943 but his love for football saw him kick off his career with his first club – nearby Dartford, who he signed for in 1947 and it wasn’t long before Queens Park Rangers made a move for John. In the couple of years he was with Rangers, he was part of the side who got promoted from Division Three (South) in 1948 and during John’s time at Loftus Road, scored twice in nine League appearances before leaving to join Ipswich Town in May 1949. From Portman Road, where he featured only a few times in the first team, he made the move to Spurs in March 1950 and can be seen in a team photo from that era standing, smiling, between Bill Nicholson and manager Arthur Rowe.
Finding a place in the A Team and the Reserves as a busy centre-forward, Gibbons played with some illustrious names and score twice in the final of the Metropolitan And District League Challenge Cup Final against Headington United (later to become Oxford United) but could not displace the likes of Len Duquemin, Eddie Baily and George Ludford, so he departed for the club’s old nursery side Gravesend & Northfleet in 1953. Topped the goal-scoring at his new club in his first season with about 28 goals and after three years, Johnny went back to his first club in 1956 to play out his career there.
After leaving Dartford, John worked for a pump hire firm in Charlton for 25 years and had other jobs, such as a porter and chargehand at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich before retiring in 1990.
Johnny Gibbons died on 31st January 2021 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, South London having gone into hospital for a routine operation, but sadly contracted Coronavirus.
[Thanks to the Independents R’s website for some of the information]
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Career Record
| Club | Signed | Fee | Debut | Apps | Goals |
| Dartford | 1948 | £- | v Bristol City (FA Cup) lost 2-9 (scored twice) |
?? | ?? |
| Queens Park Rangers | 1948 | £- | 23rd October 1948 v West Ham United (Home) (Division 2) Won 2-1 | 9 | 2 |
| Ipswich Town | May 1949 | £- | ??? | ?? | ?? |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | March 1950 | £- | – | 0 | 0 |
| Gravesend & Northfleet | 1953 | £- | ??? | 130 | ?? |
| Dartford | 1956 | £- | ??? | 130 | 48 |
Tottenham Hotspur career
0 League appearances; 0 goals
0 FA Cup appearances; 0 goals
Honours
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| What they said about John Gibbons |
| … Jack Tresadern, the Chelmsford manager in the lead up to the FA Cup tie against the Ipswich Town December 1949 (-)
“It’s going to be a very hard game. The return of John Gibbons, the ex-Queens Park Rangers centre-forward, has, it seems, livened up the Ipswich attack a lot. He is back again (replacing Jennings) after having been out of the game through injury since late September. This Gibbons man is going to take some watching. Gibbons is the constructive type. He may turn out to be the man of the match – from the Ipswich viewpoint.“ |
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| What John Gibbons said about … |
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