A pupil of Cow Close School, Leeds, he played for Leeds City Boys and Market District Boys Club before joining Middleton Parkside Juniors, where he played in the same team as Paul Madeley, Paul Reaney and Kevin Hector, who both went on to play for England. He was rejected by Reading after trials, before joining Leeds United and winning England Youth honours against Scotland, Northern Ireland and Romania. He made one appearance for the England Youth Amateurs team against Scotland at Peterborough on 24th February 1962. He signed professional for the club in February 1962 at the age of seventeen and just six months later he made his first team debut against Swansea Town at the Vetch Field. He enjoyed a scoring debut but was also carried off, after a collision with the much larger Swansea goalkeeper, Noel Dwyer, when Don Revie picked a crop of promising young players for the game. Norman Hunter,and Paul Reaney also made their debut and Gary Sprake played only his second first team appearance in that game. He was unlucky with injuries and was sidelined for a lengthy period after an operation to remove a cyst on a leg muscle. His appearances were limited to just four in that 1962-63 season as Don Weston and Jim Storrie were given the striking roles. 1963-64 was a barren season for Johnson as he failed to make one appearance as Alan Peacock was bought to enforce United's promotion push along with Storrie, Weston and Ian Lawson. After