No footballer was more ferociously committed to the United cause in the late 1960s and early 1970s than John. Whether plying his abrasive trade as midfield man-marker, putting in the occasional vigilant shift alongside the centre-half or operating as a ruthlessly efficient full-back, the versatile, all-action Aberdonian knew only one way to go about his work, and that was at maximum velocity.
Alas, it was a style that took an exacting toll on the body and ‘Fitz’ was forced to retire due to chronic knee problems at the poignantly premature age of 26.
By then he had totalled nearly 150 outings as a Red without pocketing a senior medal or nailing a regular long-term berth, so it was cruelly ironic that both prizes appeared tantalisingly possible just as he was invalided out of the game.