Johnny Paton: Energetic left-winger believed to be the oldest surviving footballer to have played for Chelsea
He was a gifted all-round sportsman, being an amateur welterweight boxer and a sprinter in his youth
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Your support makes all the difference.At 92, Johnny Paton was believed to be the oldest living Chelsea footballer, a diminutive but endlessly energetic left-winger adept at delivering crosses to the predatory head of England centre-forward Tommy Lawton during the first League season after the war.
The Glaswegian had joined the Bhoys as a 19-year-old in 1942, then served as a navigator during the Second World War, still finding time to guest for Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Leeds United and others, also featuring in the RAF team alongside Lawton's even more famous international colleague Stanley Matthews.
Having sparkled fleetingly for the Stamford Bridge side, he returned to Celtic in 1947, shining briefly in tandem with gifted inside-forward Charlie Tully before being sold to Brentford of the English Second Division for £5,000 in September 1949. In 1952 he moved on to toiling basement side Watford, with whom he was promoted to the role of player-manager, from which he was dismissed in 1956.
Between 1961 and 1965 Paton coached youngsters for Arsenal, proving a key mentor for such players as George Armstrong, Peter Simpson, John Radford, Jon Sammels and Peter Storey, who went on to enjoy leading roles as the Gunners won the League and FA Cup double in 1971.
An enterprising character who worked at various times as a press photographer and a chocolate biscuit salesman, Paton later ran a snooker hall and was a respected referee on the green-baize circuit. He was a gifted all-round sportsman, too, being an amateur welterweight boxer and a sprinter in his youth.
John Aloysius Paton, footballer: born Glasgow 2 April 1923; died 2 October 2015.
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