John was a legend of North East football. Unfortunately for Newcastle this was to be down the road in red and white stripes, a club with whom he won three League titles in possibly their most successful spell ever finishing as the leagues top scorer in each of those seasons.

For the Magpies he would play just the one season, starting alongside the famous Joe Harvey. A return of 12 goals in 29 games not too shabby for a player in the twilight of his career.

Whilst he would play for this country in unofficial tournaments, he never would gain a Scotland cap. Scotland would only introduce a policy of calling up Scottish players who played outside Scotland late in his career meaning he would miss the chance.