Johnston still the character 30 years on

By Tom Pilcher

LONDON (Reuters) - From negotiating the price of a greenhouse while taking corner kicks to being sent off 21 times in his career, life was never dull with former Scotland

international Willie Johnston around.

However, despite his prodigious talent that helped Rangers to their last piece of European silverware, the 1972 European Cup Winners' Cup, Johnston is unfortunately best remembered for being sent home from the 1978 Argentina World Cup after failing

a drugs test.

Johnston, now 62, took two Reactivan cold remedy tablets to relieve his hay fever before Scotland's opening group game against Peru.

Unknown to the Scot they contained the illegal stimulant fencamfamin, which was enough to hand him a year-long FIFA ban.

"In our time we didn't get told what not to take. You'd have to be a chemist," he told Reuters in an interview in central London.

For the former Rangers and West Bromwich Albion crowd-pleaser, already out of favour with the Scottish FA due to his disciplinary record, the incident marked the end of his international career and the start of rough treatment from the media.