A native South African raised in Lake Macquarie, he was told his left leg would have to be amputated at the age of six. His parents had sold their house to fund his trial trip to England when he was 15, just for Johnston to be told he was the ‘worst footballer’ Jack Charlton had ‘ever seen in my life’. He lived in a coal shed in Middlesbrough, washing players’ cars and boots because he had no money to return home.

Then, 11 years later, he was about to become the first Australian to score in the world’s biggest club game for the world’s biggest club team and against their biggest rivals. With the scrappiness that defined his career the ball ricocheted through the Everton centre backs and sailed through Kenny Dalglish’s legs, but the ever-reliable Johnston slammed it into the back of the net. There was no sound in football as momentous as 98,000 erupting fans at Wembley Stadium. His wild locks abounded as he jumped heroically in the air, scissor kicking his legs beneath him before being swamped by the greatest team England has ever seen. For the first time ever Australia belonged at global football’s pinnacle.

Johnston wasn’t your average football superstar: physically superhuman but tactically benign, he brought Australia’s never say die approach to the world game and succeeded against all odds. He is typically understated; ‘I just ran around crazy,’ he described as the threat of losing his leg as a child never left him. His narrow escape left a burning desire to outrun and outgun everything in his path. He even looked wild. It was the 1980s and perms were de rigueur, yet his mazy mop of dark curls, burly frame and huge cartoon grin made him the ‘he-man’ of English football. His accomplishments are unparalleled by any Australian footballer; there’s no one who even comes close.

Football stories are full of superlatives – everyone’s the greatest, every story is rags to riches – but his career is among the most incredible and unlikely of all time. The Liverpool side Johnston broke into was arguably the greatest football team of all time, and he played 271 games in just seven years. He won the European Cup, five league titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and a charity shield. Nicknamed ‘Skippy’, he was a crowd sensation who ran until he dropped and regularly lost the ball just to turn and chase it down the other end of the pitch like a ‘maniac’.

All this from the worst footballer Charlton had ever seen? A near- amputee, a homeless teenager in the Yorkshire winter? It all begs the question: why isn’t Johnston an Australian household name on an altar alongside Tim Cahill and Sam Kerr? As you’ll soon find out, nine words were all it took.

This is an extract from the incredible new Australian football book The Immortals of Australian Soccer, which recounts an unparalleled history of Australian football through its greatest moments and players. The book is available now through all good bookstores or online here.