Originally posted by DublinRover on Sligo Web
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Death of a legend
Yesterday, February 13th, Johnny Armstrong, undoubtably the best ever player to wear the Rovers shirt, passed away. May he rest in peace.
[Here's something I wrote for a match programme a couple of years ago. I had a table with his complete goalscoring record but it doesn't format to well on this forum]
Johnny Armstrong was brought to Rovers by coach Dick Groves at the start of the 1951/52 season. Born in Scotland he played with Stirling Albion and Chesterfield before joining Rovers. He was an instant success scoring 10 league goals in his first season and finishing with a grand total of 19 goals in all competitions. Not bad for a player who joined the club as a winger and would not have been seen as an out and out goal scorer. Over the twelve years that followed Johnny Armstrong wrote himself into the history books and set goal scoring records that remain unchallenged today. Indeed no one has even come close to challenging his records.
His most prolific period started with the 1954/55 season when he reached a season total of 19 goals again, which included a season best of 14 league goals. He followed this up with his best season for the club in 1955/56 when he notched up another 14 league goals and finished with a total of 22 goals in all competitions. In his career at the Showgrounds Johnny Armstrong scored a total of 83 league goals.
This is only part of the story though, and when you total Johnny Armstrong career goals total for Rovers in all competitions the final figure is a staggering 138 goals.
