Biography
Skilful creative midfielder Leigh Palin was signed in March 1990 to help lift an ailing Tigers side out of the bottom three of the Second Division. Six wins a draw later, mission accomplished. He spent most of the 1990/91 season in the first team, scoring a few goals and creating more as he intermittently showed his full range of skills and tricks. However the Tigers struggled to keep the ball out of their own goal and were relegated come April 1991. Dropping into the third tier with City did not suit Palin’s style and he had a spell on loan at Rochdale in October 1991, making 3 appearances. He returned to the first team during December and January 1992, which coincided with a damaging run of defeats and Palin did not regain his place, leaving the club in the summer of 1992.
Born in Worcester to his footballer father Granville Palin, who made 139 appearances for Walsall in the early 1960s, Leigh Granville Palin was lauded as the best young player of his age in the Black Country when he signed schoolboy forms for First Division side Aston Villa in June 1981 – but in four years at Villa Park he never broke into the first team. He was loaned to Second Division side Shrewsbury Town in December 1984, made his senior debut at Middlesbrough, adding a second appearance for the Shrews against Wolves on Boxing Day.
Palin moved to Division One rivals Nottingham Forest in November 1985 but 11 months on the banks of the River Trent yielded no further senior appearances. It was only when he moved to Bradford City in October 1986 that Palin got a regular game, debuting against Sunderland in November 1986 and scoring his first senior goal in March 1987 against Sheffield United. Palin ended his first season at Bradford with a final day red card at West Bromwich Albion having scored three times in 27 appearances. Leigh was a first team regular for the Bantams in the first half of the 1987/88 season as they challenged at the top of the Second Division table, though he dropped out of the first team after Christmas and played little part as the Valley Parade side, helmed by future Hull City manager Terry Dolan, ended the regular season fourth and qualified for the play-offs. Bradford were dumped out at the semi-final stage by Middlesbrough, Palin was a late substitute in the second leg.
Leigh began the 1988/89 season on the fringes of the Bantams’ first team but was restored by Dolan in late October 1988 after he scored the winner in a 4-3 thriller at Oxford United. Leigh scored six goals in two months including a Boxing Day equaliser against Hull City at Boothferry Park, but Bradford’s good early season form had collapsed and by January 1989 the side languished in the bottom six. An FA Cup tie against Hull City at the end of January ended in defeat, with Palin being shown a red card in the first half. Dolan was dismissed days later and replaced by Terry Yorath who continued to select Palin, however in the 1989 close season he was released by the Bantams having scored 13 goals in 95 senior appearances.
Palin joined Stoke City in early September 1989 and made his Potters debut two weeks later. However a string of heavy defeats led to the demise of manager Mick Mills and his replacement Alan Ball made wholesale changes to the squad, resulting in Palin being freed in March 1990 to join Hull City having scored 3 times in 23 appearances.
Palin left Hull City in the 1992 close season and had a short spell at Division Three side Burnley during October 1992, making one appearance. He then signed for Scottish Premier League side Partick Thistle where he made 5 senior appearances between December 1992 and April 1993 before ending the season at Halifax Town, but not troubling the first team at The Shay. After spending the summer of 1993 playing in Hong Kong and the early part of the 1993/94 season playing in the Humber County League for Beverley Old Grammarians, Palin dropped out of the professional game and joined Tadcaster Albion in December 1993, playing in Yorkshire non-league scene for four more years. He later managed a Hull Sunday League team and worked in an engineering business.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 12 September 1965, Worcester
Hull City First Game: 24 March 1990, Oldham Athletic A (Division Two), 24 years, 193 days old
Hull City Final Game: 1 February 1992, Hartlepool United H (Division Three), 26 years, 142 days old
Clubs
Aston Villa (1981-1985), Shrewsbury Town (1984-1985, loan), Nottingham Forest (1985-1986), Bradford City (1986-1989), Stoke City (1989-1990), Hull City (1990-1992), Rochdale (1991, loan), Burnley (1992), Partick Thistle (1992-1993), Halifax Town (1993), South China (1993), Tadcaster Albion (1993-1994), Immingham Town (1994-1996), Hall Road Rangers (1996-1997)
Hull City Record
Career: 67 apps, 8 goals
Leigh Palin| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989/90 | 9 (0) | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1990/91 | 35 (0) | 5 | 1 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | – | – | 1 (0) | 0 |
| 1991/92 | 13 (0) | 1 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | 2 (0) | 1 |