The Biography of Jim Leighton
Full name James Leighton
Born July 24, 1958,
Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Playing position Goalkeeper
Senior clubs
Years Club
Aberdeen 1978-1988 300 games,
Manchester United 1988-1991
73 games,
Reading (loan) 1991 8 games,
Dundee 1991-1993 21 games,
Hibernian
1993-1997 151 games
Aberdeen 1997-2000 82 games
Scotland National team
1983-1998 Scotland 91 caps,
James ("Jim") Leighton is a former football goalkeeper. Among the clubs he played for are Aberdeen (two spells), Manchester United & Hibernian. He joined Aberdeen from Dalry Thistle in 1978. He also won 91 international caps for Scotland, a number surpassed only by Kenny Dalglish.
It was during his initial spell at Aberdeen where Leighton achieved his greatest success, under the management of Alex Ferguson in the early to mid 1980s. Ferguson's Aberdeen side won the Scottish Cup four times, the Scottish League Cup twice, as well as the Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 & two Scottish Premier League titles in 1984 & 1985.
Leighton's reliability & terrific will to win gained respect from players & pundits everywhere. English keeper Peter Shilton said of him: "Scotland have solved their goalkeeeper problem." Even the outspoken Brian Clough said: "Jim Leighton is a rare bird - a Scottish goalkeeper that can be relied on."
In 1988, Leighton followed Ferguson to Manchester United, for a British goalkeeper's tranfer record, of 750,000 pounds. His first season at Old Trafford was relatively successful but his second was marked by a loss of form & confidence. This culminated in his being dropped in favour of Les Sealey for the FA Cup final replay against Crystal Palace in 1990.
Sealey retained the position of first choice goalkeeper for the following season, after their FA Cup victory, & Leighton faded from view, eventually returning to Scottish football with Dundee after loan spells with Arsenal, Reading & Sheffield United. All this severely harmed his relationship with Ferguson.
His move to Hibernian marked a revival in his fortunes, including a return to the national team. Leighton returned to Aberdeen, retiring from club football after the 2000 Scottish Cup final, which unfortunately saw him taken off injured after just 3 minutes. With forward Robbie Winters taking over goalkeeping duties, Aberdeen lost 4-0 to Rangers, which is not that bad for a team with a outfield player in goal. At least though it was another Scottish Cup Final, so he had appeared in the 1981-82 Scottish Cup Final, and in one in the next millenium. So a long period of history. And a way for Aberdeen to say they had a member who had won their team a European trophy even in a 2000s Cup Final. As he was the goaly for much of the run in to this, this was a further stamp on his career record, of achievement, evem if not up there, with being the goaly in the European run, against Bayern, in the Quarters, Waterschei in the Euro Semis, SV Hamburg, in the Super Cup, and Porto the next season in another couple of ECWC Semis, League title runs a League and Cup Double, a Cup Double and a European Cup Quarter Final. It is some kind of thing for the record books, being the keeper in such a wide range of years, like some sort of Stanley Matthews achievement.
Leighton's international career stretched over 16 years, from 1982 to 1998. He was an uncapped squad member for the 1982 World Cup, before making his debut against East Germany on October 13, 1982. Within two years he was his country's No. 1, & he played in all of his country's matches at the 1986, 1990 & 1998 World Cups, despite stiff competition for the keeper's jersey from Andy Goram during the 1990s. He retired from international football in October 1998, at the age of 40. One of his top matches for the national team was when he helped keep Scotland a 1-0 lead over Sweden, for qualification for the 1996 World Cup, when Sweden hammered attempts at his goal. This win helped put Scotland througth to the World Cup.
Some blamed a not that good Man U defence for him losing his form, at Man U, but it was not terrible.
Leighton is a member of the Scotland Football Hall of
Fame, having won his 50th cap for Scotland in 1989. He is currently back with
his old team Aberdeen as the club's goalkeeping coach.
In the 1990s he was measured at 6 foot 1, and 12 stones 9 pounds.
He made his senior debut against Hearts in the first game of the 1978-79 season, at Tynecastle in a 4-1 victory, and played against a Bulgarian team in Europe that season, as his European debut against whom the Dons went through against 5-3 on agg. He played 11 games that season. He played 1 in the 1979-80 championship season, but from the next season was the first team regular appearing as the first choice goally contstantly. John Gardiner, and Bobby Clark, were his rivals at the start, of his Aberdeen career, but then Clark was essentially too old, then Gardiner who some said was on a toin coss of who would be best, was beaten by Leighton in this contest. Leighton was in a League Cup match in the 1978-79 season too and a Scottish Cup 4th round tie in 1979-80. His achievement was also a 1981-82 League Cup Semi Final. His best World Cup finals result being the 1-1 draw with Norway in 1996. And he played under both Stein, and Ferguson, in his time, and Craig Brown. So its a long and varied career, with some degree of success at either end, even if the last was just a Runner Up Medal. But he is a rare player to have been a winner of 2 European medals, and a bunch of doubles, which is something that not many players achieve, and nobody has a comparable record, that I can think of playing in early 1980s and 2000s Cup Finals in Scotland, and in 2 1980s European finals. So the Aberdeen hall of fame, has a lot of achivement in it.
This site was written in June 2007
Aberdeen's Major Trophies
Europe
European Cup Winners' Cup - 1982-83
Runner - Up 0 times
European
Super Cup :- 1983-84
Runner Up 0 times
Domestic
Scottish League Titles 1954-55; 1979-80; 1983-84; 1984-85
Runner - up 1911, 1937, 1956, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994
Look
at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/
Scottish Cup Winners 1946-47; 1969-70; 1981-82; 1982-83; 1983-84; 1985-86; 1989-90
Runner up 1937, 1953, 1954, 1959, 1969, 1978, 1993, 2000
Scottish
League Cup Winners 1955-56; 1976-77; 1985-86; 1989-90; 1995-96
Runner - up 1947, 1979, 1980, 1988, 1989, 1993, 2000,
Southern
League Cup Winners 1946
Other
major trophies
Drybrough Cup Winners 1971-72; 1980-81
Tennents' Sixes Winners
1986, 1987
Scottish Highland Football League (reserve team contested championship)
1915, 1925
North American Soccer league Runner up 1967. Aberdeen took part as the Washington Whips in the innagural NASL.
Links to more Scottish Football Subjects
A site saying the best Aberdeen results ever
A site saying the best scottish sport team results ever
A Multiple Choice Quiz on Aberdeen FC
A site listing all World Club Championship wins, including Scottish 19thC wins
Aberdeen interesting facts site
A list of which nations have won the Most European trophies,
A Multiple Choice Quiz on Scottish Football