Thomas Leishman (3 September 1937 – 21 July 2021) was a Scottish 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 le ...

, who played as a

wing-half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Life and playing career

Born in

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

, Scotland, Leishman played for St Mirren before

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 ...

signed him for £10,000 on 20 November 1959. He made his debut a month later in a 2–0 2nd Division win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

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. ...

. His first goal came in the 11th minute of a league match at The Dell on 24 August 1960, unfortunately it turned out to be a consolation as the Saints hit 4 past the Reds backline. Leishman, like new manager

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

, joined Liverpool in November 1959 from St Mirren, where he had won a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

3–1 in the

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

final. Tommy had a great touch but he was also a driving force in the middle of the park, he settled in well and appeared 17 times in the remainder of the 1959–60 season. He followed this by missing just three fixtures in his first full season with the club as Liverpool missed out on promotion, finishing third for the fifth straight season. The following year they finally achieved their goal as they finished eight points clear of second placed

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

with Leishman missing just one game. He had been a regular for the club during its Second Division days, but found himself reduced to 11 appearances during the first half of the season as the club returned to the big time and he was allowed to leave during January 1963. Leishman returned to Scotland and joined Hibernian for the same amount the Reds paid for him, £10,000. He failed to secure a regular place in the Hibs first team and he joined Irish League side Linfield as their player-

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He was named as the

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

for the 1965–66 season. He returned to Scotland with

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

, where he ended his career. Leishman died on 21 July 2021, at the age of 83.

Honours

As player

St Mirren *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

Liverpool *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1961–62

As player-manager

Linfield *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

: Runner-up 1966

References

External links

Player profile at LFChistory.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leishman, Tommy 1937 births 2021 deaths People from Stenhousemuir Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Camelon Juniors F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Stranraer F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Ulster Footballers of the Year Scottish football managers Linfield F.C. managers Footballers from Falkirk (council area)