Graham Leggat

Graham Leggat
Leggat with Fulham in 1958
Personal information
Full name Graham Leggat[1]
Date of birth (1934-06-20)20 June 1934
Place of birth Aberdeen, Scotland
Date of death 29 August 2015(2015-08-29) (aged 81)
Place of death Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
Banks O'Dee
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1953–1958 Aberdeen 109 (64)
1958–1966 Fulham 254 (127)
1966–1967 Birmingham City 15 (3)
1968 Rotherham United 16 (7)
1970 Bromsgrove Rovers
1971 Toronto Metros 11 (2)
Total 405 (203)
International career
1954–1957 Scottish Football League XI[2] 5 (6)
1956–1960 Scotland 18 (8)
1959[3] SFA trial v SFL 1 (0)
Managerial career
1971–1972 Toronto Metros
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Graham Leggat (20 June 1934 – 29 August 2015) was a Scottish international footballer.

Playing career

Born in Aberdeen, Leggat started his career at his home town club as a right winger. He was part of the Aberdeen team that won the Scottish league title in 1954–55 and the 1955–56 Scottish League Cup. In November 2017, he was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame.[4]

He was transferred to Fulham in 1958 for £16,000 (£472,000 today), where he formed a right flank partnership with England captain Johnny Haynes. Leggat held the record for the fastest hat-trick in the English league, having scored three goals in three minutes in a 10–1 win for Fulham against Ipswich Town on 26 December 1963.[5] This record was broken in May 2015 by Sadio Mané of Southampton.[5]

He wound down his career with short spells at Birmingham City, Rotherham United and Bromsgrove Rovers.

International

Leggat was selected in the Scotland squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, playing in the Scots' matches against Yugoslavia and Paraguay. In total he earned 18 full caps between 1956 and 1960. He also scored six goals for the Scottish Football League XI in five appearances.[2]

Coaching and media career

After a brief period working as a coach at Aston Villa, in 1971 Leggat emigrated to Canada and served as the first head coach of the Toronto Metros. Several years later he would become vice-president and managing director for the Edmonton Drillers from 1979 to 1980.[6]

He began a second career as an analyst on soccer telecasts for the CBC at the 1976 Summer Olympics and at the World Cup. He later became host of TSN's popular Soccer Saturday program as well as an on-air analyst on its soccer telecasts. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 as a 'builder'. Leggat died in August 2015, aged 81.[7]

Personal life

His son, also named Graham Leggat, was executive director of the San Francisco Film Society from October 2005 until his death in August 2011.[8]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Aberdeen[9] 1953–54 Scottish Division One 26 15 5 4 0 0 — 31 19
1954–55 26 11 5 0 5 2 — 36 13
1955–56 18 19 1 1 10 9 — 29 29
1956–57 24 12 2 1 5 3 — 31 16
1957–58 15 7 3 1 6 7 — 24 15
Total 109 64 16 7 26 21 — 151 92
Fulham[10] 1958–59 Second Division 36 21 4 1 — — 40 22
1959–60 First Division 28 18 2 2 — — 30 20
1960–61 36 23 0 0 0 0 — 36 23
1961–62 31 14 8 1 0 0 — 39 15
1962–63 33 10 1 0 1 0 — 35 10
1963–64 25 15 2 1 1 0 — 28 16
1964–65 17 4 0 0 2 0 — 19 4
1965–66 33 16 1 0 3 0 — 37 16
1966–67 15 8 0 0 1 2 — 16 10
Total 254 129 18 5 8 2 — 280 136
Birmingham City[11] 1966–67 Second Division 9 1 3 0 0 0 — 12 1
1967–68 7 2 0 0 0 0 — 7 2
Total 16 3 3 0 0 0 — 19 3
Rotherham United[12] 1968–69 Third Division 16 7 2 0 1 0 — 19 7
Bromsgrove Rovers[13] 1969–70 West Midlands (Regional) League 8 6 0 0 — 1[c] 0 9 6
Toronto Metros[14] 1971 North American Soccer League 11 2 — — 11 2
Career total 414 211 39 12 35 23 1 0 489 246
  1. ^ Includes Scottish Cup, FA Cup
  2. ^ Includes Scottish League Cup, Football League Cup
  3. ^ Appearance in Midland Floodlit League

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[15]
National team Year Apps Goals
Scotland 1956 2 1
1957 1 1
1958 6 1
1959 5 4
1960 4 1
Total 18 8

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Leggat goal.
List of international goals scored by Graham Leggat[16]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 14 April 1956 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland  England 1–0 1–1 1956 British Home Championship
2 5 October 1957 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland  Northern Ireland 1–1 1–1 1958 British Home Championship
3 18 October 1958 Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales  Wales 1–0 3–0 1959 British Home Championship
4 6 May 1959 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland  West Germany 3–1 3–2 Friendly
5 27 May 1959 Olympisch Stadion, Netherlands  Netherlands 2–1 2–1 Friendly
6 3 October 1959 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland  Northern Ireland 1–0 4–0 1960 British Home Championship
7 4 November 1959 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland  Wales 1–1 1–1 1960 British Home Championship
8 19 April 1960 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland  England 1–0 1–1 1960 British Home Championship

References

  1. ^ "Graham Leggat". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b SFL player Graham Leggat, London Hearts Supporters Club
  3. ^ The selectors still have problems Archived 20 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Bulletin, 17 March 1959
  4. ^ "2017 AFC Hall of Fame". Aberdeen F.C. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b Davis, Toby (16 May 2015). "Villa and Leicester safe, Gerrard farewell agony". Reuters. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  6. ^ "The Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame Mourns the Loss of Graham Leggat". thesoccerhalloffame.ca. Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. 30 August 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  7. ^ "AFC great passes away". afc.co.uk. Aberdeen FC. 30 August 2015. Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  8. ^ Graham Leggat 1960–2011 The Filmmaker Magazine 26 August 2011
  9. ^ "Graham Leggat". Aberdeen FC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  10. ^ Turner, Dennis (2007). Fulham: The Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. pp. 374–391. ISBN 978-1-85983-566-1.
  11. ^ Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. pp. 368–371. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
  12. ^ "Player search: Leggat, G (Graham)". English National Football Archive (ENFA). Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Graham Leggat". BromsgroveFootball.org.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2003. Select content required via dropdown menus.
  14. ^ "Graham Leggat". NASL Jerseys. Dave Morrison. Retrieved 19 March 2003.
  15. ^ Graham Leggat at the Scottish Football Association
  16. ^ Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (2 March 2023). "Scotland – International Matches 1956–1960". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
Sources