For a long time, Tom Johnston could not even bring himself to watch football.
The Pure Swansea midfielder fully ruptured his ACL and damaged his meniscus, and it was about two and a half years before he kicked a ball again.
Now he has two goals in three starts, and he is playing the way he always wanted to come back. He said: “The main goal was always to be back playing with a smile on my face.”
The 27-year-old Englishman re-signed from Ammanford Town on 1 September, as Jack Midwinter’s final signing of the summer window. In his first spell he made 78 appearances and was part of the side that won the Cymru South in 2019-20.
‘You knew how far off you were’
The hardest part was staying away. He said: “For a long time, I kind of stayed away from football.”
He added: “I didn’t even want to watch the game because you knew how far off you were.”
At his level there is no club medical team to see a player through. Johnston had one-to-one care for “about four or five months” after surgery, and then he was on his own.
He said: “Then it’s kind of, you’ve got your plan and away you go and you just kind of manage yourself then.”
He added: “If you want to get back to playing football and the sort of level that we do play, it’s a long journey because you don’t really have that one-to-one care, really.”
Even after the two and a half years, there were another six to 12 months of “a few minutes here and there” before he got a run of games.
Five-a-side, and falling back in love with the game
The way back started small. Once he was physically able, Johnston went back to five-a-side, and he said it made him realise “how much you’ve been missing it”.
Then came 11-a-side football, and a return to the club where he had won a title. “I’m just really excited to be back in Pure with my old mates,” he said.
He is honest about what the injury may have cost him. He said: “Whether I’m the sort of player I used to be, or as kind of mobile, is maybe a different story.”
He added: “But to be back playing with the boys and hopefully contributing is a really nice feeling.”
‘It’s nice to see the love that people give to you’
He did not do it alone. Family told him to keep going, and friends from football kept egging him on.
His coach at Ammanford Town helped him, and so did Pure chairman Jonathan Hughes and manager Midwinter, who stayed in touch throughout.
He said: “The football world kind of reaches out and they keep you included and they know how tough that sort of situation is. It’s nice to see the love that people give to you.”
Midwinter said Johnston’s comeback has taken real resilience: “He’s worked really hard over the last two years to overcome his injuries and has shown some real resilience to get back on the pitch.”
He added: “Everyone at the club is chuffed for him to get a run of games, and hopefully that can continue for the rest of the season.”
The manager said the club will back him off the pitch as well as on it: “We wish him all the best and are with him all the way to make sure his fitness and his mental state are supported so he can reach his potential again.”
Like the rest of the Pure squad, Johnston has a day job. He was an account executive for Dell when he was injured, and now works as a business development manager in trade credit insurance.
Both are office-based, which he counts as lucky. “I can’t imagine how these injuries affect people that kind of use their body for their living,” he said.
Two goals and a first full 90 minutes
His first start of the season came against Caerphilly Athletic on 3 October, when he scored on his first start back in a 3-1 win.
He scored again in the 4-2 defeat at Ynyshir Albion on Saturday, his first full 90 minutes since the injury. “Certainly feeling it this week,” he said.
He puts his movement at about 90 per cent, although he still doubts himself in some movements. He expects match fitness to take “a good few weeks”.
Familiar faces at Fairwood
Jordan Hughes and Ollie Roberts are the two team-mates he has played with “all my years”, and he said it is nice to see “some familiar faces”.
The club has changed since his first spell. Then it played as Swansea University, before the funding went and it was rebuilt under the Pure Swansea name.
Going back to train at Fairwood “was like going back in time again”, he said, but he still has “a good few mates here”.
A car share with the Cardiff boys
Johnston is from the Cardiff area, so he will make the same drive west as the Draconians players on Saturday, perhaps even in “a little car share”.
He added: “There’ll be a rivalry between the Cardiff and Swansea boys. So yeah, it’s going to be another tasty game.”
He does not want his team-mates dwelling on a first defeat of the season, and said: “I don’t think the boys should be too disheartened about it. It’s a good lesson.”
Midwinter wants Pure to do better in the key moments after conceding nine goals in two games. Pure Swansea host Cardiff Draconians at Swansea Bay Sports Park on Saturday (2pm kick-off).
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