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Jim Leighton

Jim Leighton

James Leighton, born Johnstone, Scotland, July 24, 1958. Jim Leighton started his football journey at Scottish Premier Division side Aberdeen where he won every domestic honour under Alex Ferguson. Arguably, the greatest achievements of his goalkeeping career were the European Cup Winner’s Cup triumph against Real Madrid in May 1983, and the Super Cup win over Hamburg SV in November the same year.

As things turned out, Jim Leighton teamed up with his former manager Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in a £500,000 deal in the summer of 1988. Although everything went fairly well for him in his first season, he eventually lost his first team place to Les Sealy after suffering a huge crisis of confidence. After playing 73 First Division games for Manchester United, Leighton fell out with Ferguson and was subsequently dispatched to Dundee. While at Dens Park, he also had a rather brief loan spell with English Premier League club Sheffield United in 1993. The increasingly frustrated shot stopper finally managed to pick up his playing career at Hibernian where he appeared in 151 top-flight matches before he returned to former club Aberdeen at the end of the 1996-97 campaign. With The Dons, the long serving stalwart set the record for the oldest player in the Scottish Premier League at 41 years and 302 days before he announced his retirement in 1999. Leighton collected an impressive total of 91 full caps for his native Scotland and played in all of his country’s games at the 1986, 1990, and 1998 FIFA World Cups. Jim Leighton Playing Career: Aberdeen, Deveronvale, Manchester United, Arsenal, Reading, Dundee, Sheffield United, Hibernian, Aberdeen. Managing Career: None.