Andrew John Leaning (born 18 May 1963) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and has since been employed as a

goalkeeping coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

. Having started his career in the amateur game with York Railway Institute and

Rowntree Mackintosh Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery was a British company formed by the merger of Rowntree's and John Mackintosh Co. The company was famous for making chocolate brands, such as Kit Kat, Aero and Quality Street. It was purchased by Nestlé in 19 ...

, he turned professional when he joined York City in 1985. From there Leaning went on to have spells at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, Lincoln City,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, before retiring from playing in 2000. Over the course of his 15-year career in professional football he made 282 league and cup appearances. He was promoted with Bristol City after a second-place finish in the Third Division in 1989–90, and was named as Lincoln City's Player of the Year in 1995. Since 2000 he has been employed as goalkeeping coach at a number of his former clubs including York City, Sheffield United, and Chesterfield, as well as

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Playing career

Leaning had trials with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in 1979 at the age of 16 and he went on to play for York Railway Institute and

in the

Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English association football, football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the English football lea ...

as an amateur while working for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. He later played in York's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

and was offered the chance to turn professional with the Third Division club in July 1985. Following an injury to first choice goalkeeper

Mike Astbury Michael John Astbury (born 22 January 1964), also known as Mick Astbury, was a professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for five Football League clubs. Playing career Astbury became York City's youngest ever goalkeeper when, as a 16� ...

, Leaning made his first team debut in a 1–1 draw at Newport County on 6 November. He played in all of York's seven

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

games in the 1985–86 season and his "finest" performance came in York's 3–1 defeat after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

in the fifth round on 18 February 1986, being named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

following a "heroic" performance. He was able to do a "fine job" in Astbury's absence during the 1985–86 season, which he finished with 39 appearances in all competitions. He made 47 appearances for York in all competitions in the 1986–87 season. Having made 86 appearances for York in all competitions, he was allowed to leave the club in 1987 and following a brief trial with Everton in May 1987, where he played one game in the reserves, he joined

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

team

on 28 May. He made 25 appearances in all competitions for United before signing for Third Division team

for a fee of £12,000 in November 1988, having initially joined on a month's

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

on 27 September. He made 19 league appearances during the 1989–90 season as City secured promotion out of the Third Division with a second-place finish. After making 89 appearances for City in all competitions he joined Third Division team Lincoln City on 24 March 1994. He made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on 26 March. He was named as the club's Player of the Year for the 1994–95 season. While at Lincoln, supporters would chant lyrics from

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

's "Leaning on a Lamppost" in recognition of Leaning. After making 51 appearances in all competitions for Lincoln he signed for

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

team

in August 1996. He returned to England after signing for Second Division team

in October 1996, where he made 29 appearances before retiring in 2000.

Coaching career

Following his retirement from playing, Leaning moved into specialist coaching and he became

at Chesterfield, later having appointments at

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He holds

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

'A' licences in coaching and goalkeeping coaching. He worked as a coach for the York College Football Development Centre in 2006. He became goalkeeping coach at former club Sheffield United at the beginning of the 2002–03 season, before leaving the club in May 2010. Leaning was appointed goalkeeping coach at former club York City on a part-time basis on 8 July 2010. He departed the club a little under a year later on 16 June 2011 after the appointment of

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all ...

as player-goalkeeping coach. He joined

as academy goalkeeping coach during 2012, and later coached the club's first team goalkeepers before leaving in July 2014. Leaning returned to York for a second spell as goalkeeping coach on 19 May 2015, working under manager

Russ Wilcox Russell "Russ" Wilcox (born 25 March 1964) is an English former professional footballer who is currently manager of Farsley Celtic. Wilcox played as a defender between 1980 and 2003 and spent the final six years of his career with Scunthorp ...

Jackie McNamara Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football agent, and former player, manager and executive. He won 33 international caps playing for Scotland, and filled a variety of defensive roles in his career. McNamara beg ...

later became manager, and Leaning left the club on 8 December 2015. Some weeks later he was briefly employed as a goalkeeping coach at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

Personal life

Born in

Howden Howden () is a market and minster town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York to the north of the M62, on the A614 road about south-east of York and north of Goole, which lies across the Ri ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, Leaning's son

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who has represented

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

at junior level from the age of 11. In June 2008 his unbeaten 164 for the county under-14 team against Cheshire was the highest score ever by a Yorkshire youth player.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *Lincoln City F.C. Player of the Year:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Bristol City *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

second-place promotion: 1989–90

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaning, Andy 1963 births Living people People from Howden Footballers from the East Riding of Yorkshire English footballers Association football goalkeepers York Railway Institute A.F.C. players Nestlé Rowntree F.C. players York City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Northern Counties East Football League players English Football League players Association football goalkeeping coaches Sheffield United F.C. non-playing staff Chesterfield F.C. non-playing staff Scarborough F.C. non-playing staff Barnsley F.C. non-playing staff York City F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff