Keith FC mourn loss of Charlie Johnston

Keith FC lost a star centre forward of the mid 1960's with the sad passing of Charlie Johnston on Monday 13 April. Charlie was 72 years of age when he died at Dr Grays Hospital Elgin following a short illness.

Charlie, who loved a blether and was a really chirpy character, joined the Maroons from Keith Dynamoes during the 1967-68 season, at the age of 20. He ended up as the Club's top scorer that season notching 17 goals. Due to work commitments he only managed to play 34 games spread over two seasons, scoring 16 goals in 1968-69, finishing second top scorer behind Dennis Kennedy.

A prolific scorer during his time at Kynoch Park Charlie hit four hat-tricks, twice against Rothes and once against Inverness Thistle and Buckie Thistle. Two of those trebles came in the space of three days - hitting three in an 8-1 win at Rothes on 21 August 1968, then three days later repeating the feat in a 4-1 win at Kingsmills Park against Inverness Thistle.

Charlie made a scoring debut for the Maroons hitting the back of the net twice in a 5-0 at Buckie Thistle on 27 January 1968. It was no surprise that he ended up top scorer that season, finding the target in 13 out of 18 games he played.

Charlie was a frequent spectator at Kynoch Park in recent times, following the team with the same passion that he showed as a player. He was always up for a blether about his times as a player, reminiscing about his counterparts like the aforementioned Dennis Kennedy, Keith Rattray, a young Eric Wilson, Derek Simpson and George Stables to name but a few.

A great character, Charlie will be sadly missed by all at Kynoch Park, and Keith FC's thoughts are with the family at this sad time.