John Robertson to be honoured with street name near childhood home | OneFootball

John Robertson, the late Nottingham Forest great, is to be honoured with a street in his name in Viewpark, near Glasgow. The new road, John Robertson Way, will sit close to the neighbourhood where he grew up.

NY Times reports that North Lanarkshire Council has agreed the plan after discussions with Labour councillor Helen Loughran. The street will form part of a new estate on the site locally known as Texaco park.

Robertson was instrumental as Forest beat Malmo to win the 1979 European Cup, then struck the decisive goal against Hamburg in 1980. Brian Clough called him “the Picasso of football”. Forest have announced plans to rename a stand at the City Ground following his death on Christmas Day, aged 72.

His talent was honed on a small grassy patch outside his Woodview home, where two trees served as goalposts. That spot produced at least nine professionals, among them Iain Munro, Tommy Coakley and John Stevenson of Hearts, his brother James of Hibernian, plus Johnny Doyle and Ian Scanlon. Jimmy Johnstone, widely regarded as the greatest Celtic player of all time, lived under a mile away.

Though he moved to Nottingham at 15, he was proud of Viewpark, a community of about 15,000 that also produced Jimmy Johnstone. He later enjoyed success as Martin O’Neill’s assistant at Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa. If everything goes to plan, an opening ceremony will be held later this year, and a small memorial garden could follow.

Source: NY Times