Isaiah Johnston doesn’t exactly have the fondest memories of playing football with Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar on the touchline.

Back in 2018, while a member of the Woodbridge Strikers in League1 Ontario, his side lost the league’s championship final to Gheisar’s Vaughan Azzurri. Austin Ricci and Dylan Sacramento scored in a 2-0 victory for Vaughan on that October day at the Ontario Soccer Centre. With that victory, Vaughan earned a spot in the 2019 Canadian Championship, where Gheisar coached them against the CPL’s Halifax Wanderers.

Coincidentally, it is in Halifax where the two will join forces, Gheisar in his third year coaching the team, and Johnston signing a two-year deal with the club, announced on Wednesday. He joins the club in a transfer from USL Championship side Loudoun United FC.

“So, hopefully we’re in the final again together and winning this time instead of losing to him,” Johnston told CanPL.ca with a grin.

The 23-year-old midfielder from Mississauga, Ont. returns to the Canadian Premier League, where he made his professional debut with York United back in 2020. Over the next three seasons with the Nine Stripes, he made 53 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals and adding five assists.

Following the 2022 campaign, his journey took him south of the border, where he joined MLS Next Pro club Huntsville FC, becoming their first-ever signing. Following a season-and-half with Huntsville, he was transferred to Loudoun United in the USL Championship.

Now he’s back, not just in the league where he got his start, but in a province he has ties to as well. Johnston was drafted out of Cape Breton University in the 2019 CPL-U SPORTS Draft before signing with York. Nova Scotia, he said, sold itself to him, as he called it one of the most beautiful provinces in Canada, speaking about how kind all the people there were to him as a teenager.

When he got the chance to talk to Gheisar and the Wanderers’ Senior Football Strategy Advisor Mark Watson, returning to the east coast became a no-brainer.

“On my call with them, it was very organized,” said Johnston, “and it was a very clear plan for me personally, and then also for the club and the direction they want to go.”

Johnston had done his homework as well. As he followed the league from afar, the Halifax Wanderers caught his eye.

“I’ve kept tabs, watched games over the years that I’ve been gone, and since Patrice has taken over I’ve really enjoyed the style of football that Halifax plays, being a more possession-based team,” said Johnston. “Coming from Loudoun, we were the second-highest possession-based team in the whole league, in the USL. So it’s a very similar style of play that I’m coming from, where you kind of want to be on the front foot, attacking games.”

After starting his professional career close to home, with memories of York United teammates coming over for Thanksgiving dinners to his family home in Mississauga, his time in the United States has been significant for his growth — both as a man and a footballer.

“I’ve matured a lot,” said Johnston. “It was my first time having to manage my own money in a real way, in terms of having to pay my own bills, and living away from home. Only seeing my family like two, three times a year, other than off-season. I think it’s really helped me mature into a man.”

With Huntsville, he trained often with the Nashville SC first team, and was also on their Leagues Cup roster in 2023. This meant getting to work and learn from players like MLS veteran Dax McCarty, USMNT defender Walker Zimmerman and 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar. He says he picked up several tips and tricks from those experiences.

“There’s a lot of development and growth that has happened over the last few years,” said Johnston.

With five seasons of professional football now under his belt, in three different leagues, Johnston believes he can be a real leader on this Halifax team. He also says he has now developed into a true box-to-box midfielder, and is looking forward to showing Wanderers fans how much his game has progressed.

“I’ll get into tackles, I’ll get stuck in, I’ll cover a lot of ground,” said Johnston. “But I also want to create. Help us get out of the building phase and into that creative phase where we can let our attacking guys be creative and score goals.”

Johnston has come a long way from the 16-year-old kid who joined York for their first-ever preseason training camp down in the Dominican Republic as a training player. He remembers having to constantly get permission slips from school in order to show up late following training with the club in that inaugural CPL season. But as he has grown he says he has had the pleasure of seeing the Canadian Premier League do so as well.

“I think the growth of the league has been massive from what it was in 2019, and some of the things that happened on and off the field,” said Johnston. “If you look at last year, to the transfers that are coming in and going out, the quality of play, to the professionalism of environments and training facilities. I think it’s such a short time, and the league is taking great strides, and I’m grateful to be a part of all of it.”

As the league writes its next chapter entering its seventh season, Johnston is motivated to help the Halifax Wanderers become an important part of that story.

Already bolstered by high-profile signings like central defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and goalkeeper Rayane Yesli, Halifax are constructing an exciting team for the 2025 season. Following a disappointing 2024 where the Wanderers missed the playoffs, it is all with an eye toward not just competing, but contending.

“I see a clear vision, and I see a vision for what I want, for myself and for the group,” said Johnston. “I think it’s very clear that we are assembling a squad that has the ability to compete for trophies. This isn’t a team that wants to just make playoffs, or in that fifth and final spot. We want to be comfortable, we want to have home playoff games, and I think with the squad that we have and our playing style, that will come to light this year.”