A fond farewell for Bradders? TSS June 10, 2011 Transfer News 14 Comments Judging by the abundance of sites and newspapers claiming Bradley Johnson yesterday underwent a medical with newly promoted Norwich City, it seems only a matter of time before it’s announced his free transfer to Stephen Fry’s beloved Canaries is complete. Reflecting on Johnson’s time at Elland Road brings mixed emotions. Bradley Johnson had the ability to go from infuriating to magical, lazy to tireless and useless to integral and back again several times per match. The one thing I won’t miss about Bradley Johnson is the wild 40 yard shots he hit at every available opportunity regardless of angle, the options he has in front of him or scoreline. The Kop and South Stand will once again be a place where you can sit without fear of a Johnson special smashing you in the face and I imagine the ball-boys are pretty pleased with the news too. It was only really in his final season at Leeds United that his full potential began to show as Simon Grayson switched him to a more defensive role, removing the opportunity for speculative shots and putting his power and weight to good use. In this position, Johnson played his best season for the Whites, tirelessly and fearlessly battling away in an ultimately doomed attempt to help the weakest defence in the Championship keep the ball out of the back of the net. Regardless of how you personally rate Johnson, he’s been an ever-present in the Simon Grayson side that won promotion from League One and narrowly missed out on a play-off spot this season. It’s all too easy to highlight the moments of magic and suppress the infuriating ones, but for the uncontainable excitement he showed as his cross found it’s way to Jermaine Beckford to slot home the promotion winning goal of 2009/10 (not to mention his celebrations afterwards) and for the odd strike that didn’t sail over the roof of the Kop (Arsenal in the FA Cup comes to mind) I wish Johnson all the best. After all, football is all about suffering through hours of agony for a few precious moments of joy, and Johnson certainly provided us all with a few of those.