16 February 1953 – 19 April 2024
At Sunderland: 13 January 1983 - 13 July 1984
SAFC career 55+2 appearances / 4 goals.
Club historian Rob Mason pays tribute
We were saddened to learn of the death of former Sunderland and Wales winger Leighton James. As good a crosser of the ball as has been seen in a Sunderland shirt, James came to Sunderland as a veteran, joining a month before his 30th birthday when he signed for his former Wales teammate Alan Durban. By this stage of his career Leighton had lost much of his pace but none of his ability. He added quality to a side learning to cope in the top flight and won his 54th and final cap for Wales while with Sunderland, coming off the bench against England at Wembley a month after being recruited as a Rokerite. Three years earlier perhaps his best international performance saw him tear England apart and get on the score-sheet in a 4-1 win.
Leighton first came onto the Roker radar when he scored the only goal of the 1972 International Youth Festival final for Burnley against Sunderland at Roker Park. By then he was already making a name for himself as a star name in the renowned Burnley youth system. When he left Burnley for the first time it was to sign for reigning league champions Derby County. After 88+1 games and 21 goals (Including a UEFA Cup hat-trick) he moved to QPR, scoring six times in 32+1 games before returning to Burnley in September 1978 as their record signing at a fee of £165,000. A couple of years later he went to play for Swansea near where he was born. Part of a golden era under John Toshack, Leighton netted 27 goals in 88+10 league appearances before coming to Sunderland where his quality continued to shine. James also worked as youth team coach in the second of his two seasons at Sunderland before linking up with a host of former Burnley players headed by Martin Dobson at Bury where he scored five goals in 46 league outings. Still not finished, he scored twice in 21+7 league games for Newport County before a final move back to Burnley where at the age of 33 he helped them survive having to apply for re-election as they struggled in Division Four, In 1988 he played at Wembley when Burnley lost the Associate Members Trophy final to Wolves. Predominantly left-footed, he was two-footed enough to sometimes take penalties with his right.
After becoming youth coach at Turf Moor Leighton continued to have the occasional first team outing in a deeper role and during summers showed himself to be a useful batsman in the Lancashire & Ribblesdale cricket leagues. In total at Burnley James made 393+6 appearances, scoring 81 times. Leighton left the Clarets for the last time in May 1989 but by February the next year was appointed youth team coach at Bradford City as well as occasionally turning out for the Bantams reserve team. He went on to manage Gainsborough Trinity, Morecambe, Netherfield, Llanelli (twice),Garden Village and Aberdare Athletic as well as having a brief playing spell in 1995 with Darwen. In 2011 he also had a short stint as Director of Football at Haverfordwest County. Starting in Lancashire Leighton also became a radio pundit, often an outspoken one. Always good at crossing, in later life Leighton became a lollipop man at his nephew’s school in Swansea and even won an award for that! While Burnley and Swansea were the clubs closest to his heart he always spoke really well of his enjoyment of playing for the passionate supporters of the north east and he will be fondly remembered by supporters who saw him play for the Lads.