Leadbeater, Legsy – Town favourite became a Welsh scout

 David Leadbeater (b1957)

Born at Barnsley, David Leadbeater was a former top-scorer with the Hull City Reserves team who followed new Grantham manager, Geoff Barker, from Bridlington Trinity after a then record £2,500 transfer.

He made his debut in the opening County Cup game of the 1980/81 season at Boston United and surprisingly had to wait until his fifth match, at Morecambe, to score his first goal.

The next few months saw appearances for Dave in the County Cup Final against Lincoln City and against the European Champions in the Redmayne Trophy.

He played in every game that year and finished as the club’s top scorer, a feat he maintained over the next three seasons as well.

In October 1982 Dave scored the winning goal in the Lincolnshire County Senior Cup Final at Scunthorpe United, whilst the following Saturday he played in the final qualifying round of The FA Cup against Telford United.

After the highlight of a fourth place in the league at the end of the 1983/84 season, a year which saw hat-tricks for him in the games against Scunthorpe United and Rhyl, the following campaign was a disappointing one for both the club and Dave.

After netting only six strikes in the first few months of the season, he scored his 100th goal in his final game at Runcorn during an FA Trophy replay in January 1985.

Legsy went on to play for Alfreton Town, before having a couple of spells at both Ossett Town then  North Ferriby United where he rejoined Geoff Barker.

He moved into management on his return to Ossett.

After hanging up his boots, he spent several years scouting for Middlesbrough. During his time at Ayresome Park and then the Riverside, he recruited the likes of Tuncay, Gary O’Neill and Luke Young,  before moving on to work for Crystal Palace.

In 2010 joined Swansea where he is now head of recruitment.

Based on information supplied by John Barnes