Jimmy Leadbetter

Jimmy Leadbetter
Personnel
Surname	James Hunter Leadbetter
birthday	July 15, 1928
place of birth	Edinburgh ,  Scotland
date of death	July 18, 2006
Place of death	Edinburgh ,  Scotland
position	Winger , midfield (left) half-forward
Juniors
Years	station
	Edinburgh Thistle
	Armandals Thistle
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1949-1952	Chelsea FC	3 ( 00)
1952-1955	Brighton & Hove Albion	107 (29)
1955-1965	Ipswich Town	344 (43)
1965-1970	Sudbury Town
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1965-1970	Sudbury Town
1 Only league games are given.

James Hunter "Jimmy" Leadbetter (born July 15, 1928 in Edinburgh , † July 18, 2006 ibid) was a Scottish football player . Despite his slight stature, with which he looked little like a professional athlete, between 1955 and 1965 he was a key figure in the Ipswich Town team , which rose twice through the third division and won the English championship in 1962 . He was considered to be a slightly lagging left winger in midfield as a “prototype” for the later world champion coach Alf Ramsey , who also applied this principle to the English national team.

Athletic career

Leadbetter was born in the Scottish capital and attended Balgreen Primary School, as did Dave Mackay later , who became well known for his time at Tottenham Hotspur and the Scottish national team . After first footballing experience in the home at smaller clubs like Edinburgh Thistle and Armandale Thistle he moved in 1949 to London to Chelsea . There he was denied the sporting breakthrough and after just three league appearances in three years he moved to the south coast of England to the third division team Brighton & Hove Albion . Chelsea's new coach Ted Drake had used him as part of a swap deal and in return Brightons hired Johnny McNichol to join the "Blues". In Brighton he was a regular in the position of the forward and he scored 33 goals in 115 competitive games. This was followed in the summer of 1955 by the transfer to Ipswich Town , which had just been relegated from the second division. For the move to the east of England, he is said to have even accepted a drop in salary.

Under Ipswich's new coach Alf Ramsey , who later won the World Cup with England, Leadbetter quickly found a tailor-made position. He benefited from Ramsey's philosophy, which did not include classic wingers. Since Leadbetter had neither the extraordinary speed that predestined him for a left winger, nor was he ideal as a half-striker due to his rather slim stature, Ramsey let him "pull the strings" a little withdrawn in the left midfield. Since the opposing full-backs were lured out of the defense in a man-deck-oriented style of play, additional rooms were created for the strikers. Ramsey later emphasized that Leadbetter was considered a prototype for his later "Wingless Wonders" world championship formation and thus, ironically, a Scot was largely responsible for the greatest English football triumph. Leadbetter was always treated a bit mockingly because of his physical appearance - due to his thin legs and generally weak physique, he was nicknamed “Sticks” and he was also criticized in the media as “pale, senile, fragile and slow”. In terms of sport, the renewed promotion attempt in Ipswich was initially not crowned with success, but in the second year the club again secured participation in the second division's game operations. Further successes came and in an increasingly strong Ispwich team - led by the goal scorers Ray Crawford and Ted Phillips - Leadbetter rose to the top English league in 1961. If this was considered a surprise, a sensation followed a year later when Ipswich Town won the English championship in 1962. Leadbetter was only absent in a single game against Leicester City ( Aled Owen replaced him there ) and numerous preparations for the 61 goals from Crawford and Phillips were on his account. Then his professional career slowly came to an end. The now 33-year-old initially accompanied the sporting decline of his club, which had a low point after the departure of Ramsey under successor Jackie Milburn with the relegation in 1964 as bottom of the table. Leadbetter's last assignment ended on January 30, 1965 in the FA Cup with a clear 5-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

After leaving Ipswich, he hired himself for five years until 1970 as a player-coach for the amateur club Sudbury Town . He then returned to Edinburgh and worked for 19 years as a driver for the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper . He later lived in the village of Corstorphine, west of Edinburgh, until his death three days after his 78th birthday.

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1962

Web links

• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Profile on barryhugmansfootballers.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin Brooks: Ipswich Town Champions 1961/62 . The History Press, Stroud 2011, ISBN 978-0-7524-5890-8 , pp. 143 .
2. ↑ "Obituaries: Jimmy Leadbetter" (The Telegraph)
3. ↑ "Obituaries: Jimmy Leadbetter" (The Independent)