Andrew Legg (born 28 July 1966) is a Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager and former

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

international player. Born in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historica ...

, he began his professional career with

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

after joining the club from local non-league football at the age of 22. He made his senior debut in 1988 and went on to make over 150 appearances for the club in all competitions before being sold to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

in 1993. He also played for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and Newport County. He was one of the cover athletes of '' FIFA Soccer 96'' alongside

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 i ...

. He was known for having the longest

throw-in A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball has exited the side of the field of play. It is governed by Law 15 of The Laws of the Game. Award When the ball goes out of play past the touch-line ...

in football, being able to regularly throw the ball over 30 metres and once held the world record with a distance of .

Early life

As a teenager, Legg attended

Glan Afan Comprehensive School Glan Afan Comprehensive School () was a mixed comprehensive school which served the town of Port Talbot, Wales, and its surrounding areas for 120 years. It was opened in 1896 as Port Talbot Intermediate School under the provisions of the Welsh In ...

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

. After leaving school, he worked for the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also resp ...

and later as a supervisor in a shelving systems factory. Legg's brother, Paul, was also a footballer and spent time on trial with

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

Career

Early career

After playing for local youth side Baglan Boys Club, where his father was manager, Legg joined Welsh League side Briton Ferry Athletic where he attracted attention from several

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

clubs. He first joined

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

on trial, playing up front alongside

Bernie Slaven Bernard Joseph Slaven (born 13 November 1960) is a former professional football striker. He scored 223 goals in 567 league and cup appearances over the course of an 18-year career and also earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland. He star ...

for the club's reserve side. However, manager

Bruce Rioch Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008. As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in the Fo ...

was unhappy with Legg's hair, describing him as "''too scruffy''", and told him to cut his hair or to not come back. Legg decided not to return and travelled back home. He was instead offered a trial at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and played for the reserve side, again as a forward, before being asked to return at the start of the following season for pre-season training in order for manager

Mel Machin Melvyn Machin (born 16 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A midfielder, he started his career at Port Vale in 1962, before he moved on to Gillingham four years later. He made his name at the club from 1966 to 1970, ...

to assess him.

Swansea City

After returning from Manchester, Legg was offered a trial with his home town club

, playing in a reserve fixture against

and, in August 1988, he was offered a professional contract by manager

Terry Yorath Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), ...

, starting his professional career at the relatively late age of 22. A stress fracture of his leg meant he was forced to wait for his debut, eventually making his first appearance in a 2–0 defeat to

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 ...

. He went on to make over 150 appearances at

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 a ...

and helped win the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mo ...

in 1989 and 1991 as well as featuring in the team's

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

campaigns, playing against Panathinaikos and

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

. During his time with Swansea, Legg's long

ability gained significant attention and he was credited with a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

in 1992 after taking part in a long throw competition arranged by the BBC television show

Record Breakers ''Record Breakers'' was a British children's TV show, themed around world records and produced by the BBC. It was broadcast on BBC1 from 15 December 1972 to 21 December 2001. It was originally presented by Roy Castle with Guinness World Reco ...

held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in 1992 against

Dave Challinor David Paul Challinor (born 2 October 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers, Stockport County and Bury. He is the manager of club Stockport ...

and

Neil Thompson Neil Thompson (born 2 October 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Scarborough, Ipswich Town and Barnsley amongst others. Playing career Thompson was born in Beverley, East Riding of Yor ...

. He recorded a throw distance of 44.6m, a record that stood until the 1996–97 season when it was beaten by Challinor who recorded a throw of 46.3m.

Notts County

He was sold to

in July 1993 for a fee of £275,000, where he was part of the side that won the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

during the 1994–95 season. Legg was featured on the cover of FIFA 96, alongside

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in . The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to ...

, a photo taken at that game.

Birmingham City

Along with Paul Devlin, Legg was sold to

in February 1996. Originally signed by

Barry Fry Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...

, he spent two years, winning his first cap for

on 24 April 1996 in a 2–0 defeat to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

but was forced off after 30 minutes due to injury. In the final year of his contract during the 1997–98 season, Legg began negotiations over an extension but, after failing to agree terms, was dropped to the reserve side by manager

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player fol ...

. He was instead allowed to join

on loan as cover for the injured Bobby Petta and after a month Ipswich manager

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

attempted to negotiate a permanent deal, which later collapsed.

Reading

Soon after, Jason Bowen, a friend of Legg's joined

and, thanks to Bowen's praise of the club, he agreed a deal to sign for the

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

based side in February 1998. Just several weeks later manager

Terry Bullivant Terry Bullivant (born 23 September 1956, Lambeth) is an English Association football, football Coach (sport), manager. During his playing career he was a midfielder, representing Fulham F.C., Fulham and Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. Following h ...

was sacked and replaced by Tommy Burns who soon fell out with several players including Legg and Bowen. Burns ignored the group of players, who later became known as the "gang of five", and refused to let them be a part of the first team, resulting in them taking part in separate training sessions taken charge of by reserve team manager

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final ...

, who took over from Burns following his dismissal. Pardew later commented that "''"I wish they had stayed. Andy would certainly be in my team now and Jason showed he had a lot of talent.''"

Cardiff City

After a brief spell on loan at

, he joined Cardiff City in 1998. Legg was initially unpopular with fans due to his previous spell with

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

rivals Swansea City, even being sent death threats, former teammate

Winston Faerber Winston Faerber (born 27 March 1971) is a former Dutch professional footballer, born in Suriname. Club career Faerber began his career at ADO Den Haag. He made his professional debut for the club at the age of 23 when he played in a 3–1 defeat ...

had his finger sliced open after opening one of Legg's letters which contained a razor blade. However, he eventually became a fan favourite and was awarded the club's player of the season award in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons. In 1999, Legg's wife Lucy noticed a lump on his neck which was later diagnosed as a non-malignant tumour. With the 1999–2000 season coming to an end, Legg decided to play on for the remainder of the season, the only people aware of his condition at the club being manager

Billy Ayre William Ayre (7 May 1952 – 16 April 2002) was an English footballer who played for three clubs in a sixteen-year professional career, making over three hundred League appearances in the process. After retiring from the playing side of the game ...

, physio Mike Davenport and club doctor Len Noakes, before having the tumour removed at the

Princess of Wales Hospital The Princess of Wales Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Tywysoges Cymru) is a district general hospital in Bridgend, Wales. It is managed by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. History The hospital was commissioned to replace the aging Bridgend Gen ...

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

in May 2000. He left the club in July 2003 after being asked to take a 70% pay cut for the 2003–04 season, stating "''It's a big wrench to leave Cardiff, I'm absolutely gutted ..I think I deserve better than a 70% pay cut''". As a result, his final game for Cardiff was in the 2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, helping the club win promotion to Division One.

Peterborough United

Following his departure, Legg joined

as a player-coach, making his debut on the opening day of the season in a 3–4 defeat to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. As assistant manager to Steve Bleasdale at Peterborough United he featured briefly in the TV series ''

Big Ron Manager ''Big Ron Manager'' is a television documentary series based on Ron Atkinson's efforts as a troubleshooter at the English football club Peterborough United, at the time playing in League Two. The series was screened on Sky One in 2006. Overview ...

'' alongside

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

and

. In 2004, a second lump appeared in his throat and, after seeing a specialist, he decided to again wait until the end of the season before undergoing surgery to remove it. However, during a match against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

on 22 January 2005 he was hit in the neck by an elbow from

Neil Kilkenny Neil Martin Kilkenny (born 19 December 1985) is a professional footballer who plays for Australian club Western United. A midfielder, he began his career in the youth system at Arsenal, and went on to play league football for Oldham Athletic, B ...

. Reacting angrily, Legg was later sent off for a retaliatory foul on Kilkenny. Feeling pain from his neck for the first time, Legg booked himself in for the operation in April 2005, making his last appearance for Peterborough on 9 April 2005 in a 1–0 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

, a match which would later turn out to be his last match as a professional. He underwent surgery several days later at

Queen's Medical Centre The Queen's Medical Centre (popularly known as QMC, Queen's Med or Queen's) is a teaching hospital situated in Nottingham, England. Until February 2012, when it was surpassed by the Royal London Hospital, it was the largest hospital in the Unit ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. The operation to remove it was successful, although he was forced to undergo a 28 session course of

radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Rad ...

, and Legg was able to return to football, despite having believed that he would be forced to retire.

Return to football

He made his return with Maesteg Park on 1 February 2006 during a 2–0 win over Bettws. After short spells playing for Newport County and

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carma ...

, Legg joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

side

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club are a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club are members of the and play at Watnall Road. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for t ...

. In January 2007, he was appointed manager of Hucknall Town. He remained manager until September 2007, when he resigned following six consecutive defeats at the start of the 2007–2008 season. He returned to play for Llanelli, and was appointed manager of the side in April 2009, replacing Peter Nicholas. At the age of 42, Legg was part of the Llanelli side that inflicted a shock defeat on

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

side

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

in the first qualifying round of the Europa League in July 2009. Already a holder of a UEFA A coaching licence, Legg began studying for his UEFA Pro Licence in June 2010. Legg returned to football as manager of

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, bu ...

in August 2016 but was sacked from the job three months later. In September 2016 he was appointed under-23 manager at his former club Cardiff City. As part of an academy shake-up, Legg left his position on 25 November 2019. He returned to Llanelli Town in November 2020 for his second spell as manager before leaving the club in November 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

Swansea City *

winner: 1989, 1991 Notts County *

winner: 1995 Cardiff 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 ...

: third place

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

: second place

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Welsh football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English leagues (including six Welsh ...

winner:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

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 t ...

play-off final winner:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Llanelli *

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

winner: 2007–08 Individual *

Team of the Year: 2008–09

References

* *

External links

Profile
at ''UpThePosh!'' The Peterborough United Database
Welsh Premier League Profile for Andy Legg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legg, Andy 1966 births Living people Footballers from Neath Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Association football wingers Association football fullbacks Swansea City A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Reading F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Maesteg Park A.F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Hucknall Town F.C. players English Football League players Welsh football managers Hucknall Town F.C. managers Llanelli Town A.F.C. managers Bangor City F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers People educated at Glan Afan Comprehensive School Cardiff City F.C. non-playing staff Briton Ferry Athletic F.C. players