Graham Leggat


Graham Leggat was a Scottish international footballer.

Playing career

Born in Aberdeen, Leggat started his career at his home town club as a right winger. He was part of the Aberdeen team that won the Scottish league title in 1954–55 and the 1955–56 Scottish League Cup. In November 2017, he was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame.
He was transferred to Fulham in 1958 for £16,000, where he formed a right flank partnership with England captain Johnny Haynes. Leggat held the record for the fastest hat-trick in the English league, having scored three goals in three minutes in a 10–1 win for Fulham against Ipswich Town on 26 December 1963. This record was broken in May 2015 by Sadio Mané of Southampton.
He wound down his career with short spells at Birmingham, Rotherham and Bromsgrove Rovers.

International

Leggat was selected in the Scotland squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, playing in the Scots' matches against Yugoslavia and Paraguay. In total he earned 18 full caps between 1956 and 1960. He also scored six goals for the Scottish League XI in five appearances.

Coaching and media career

After a brief period working as a coach at Aston Villa, in 1971 Leggat emigrated to Canada and served as the first head coach of the Toronto Metros. Several years later he would become Vice-President and Managing Director for the Edmonton Drillers from 1979 to 1980.
He began a second career as an analyst on soccer telecasts for the CBC at the 1976 Summer Olympics and at the World Cup. He later became host of TSN's popular Soccer Saturday program as well as an on-air analyst on its soccer telecasts. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 as a 'builder'. Leggat died in August 2015, aged 81.

Personal life

His son, also named Graham Leggat, was executive director of the San Francisco Film Society from October 2005 until his death in August 2011.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
114 Apr 1956Hampden Park, Glasgow1–01–1BHC
25 Oct 1957Windsor Park, Belfast1–11–1BHC
318 Oct 1958Ninian Park, Cardiff1–03–0BHC
46 May 1959Hampden Park, Glasgow3–13–2Friendly
527 May 1959Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam2–12–1Friendly
63 Oct 1959Windsor Park, Belfast1–04–0BHC
74 Nov 1959Hampden Park, Glasgow1–11–1BHC
819 Apr 1960Hampden Park, Glasgow1–01–1BHC