Ken Leek

Kenneth Leek (26 July 1935 – 19 November 2007) was a Welsh footballer, who played as a centre forward or inside forward for several different clubs and for the Wales national team in a professional career which spanned from 1952 until 1968. He scored 145 goals in the Football League from 396 appearances with five clubs. Internationally he won 13 caps and scored five goals, and was a member of the Welsh squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden although he did not play during the tournament.

Leek started his career with Northampton Town aged 17 despite only playing football for three years. After six years, he earned a move to First Division Leicester City. He had three seasons at Leicester, and scored in every round of the FA Cup en route to the 1961 final. He was dropped from the final and soon moved on to Newcastle United. His stay with Newcastle was brief and he signed for Birmingham City before the end of the year, having had a loan spell in Canada with Montreal Concordia. He played more than 100 games with Birmingham, scoring nearly a goal every other game including two in the 1963 League Cup triumph against rivals Aston Villa. He returned to Northampton, helping them to promotion to the top flight before finishing his professional career with Bradford City. His career took him onto three Welsh non-league sides.

Early life Leek was born on 26 July 1935 in Ynysybwl, South Wales, where he lived next door to Birmingham City and future Welsh international footballer Don Dearson. He attended two rugby-playing schools before taking up football himself at the age of 14. He also spent two years in national service.

Club career As a teenager, Leek played football for Ynysybwl Boys attracting a number of club scouts. In August 1952, he signed for Third Division South side Northampton Town. He soon appeared for the first team In six years with Northampton, he had a strike-rate of one goal every three games, The same summer, he travelled with the Welsh national side to Sweden for the World Cup. manager Matt Gillies dropped his striker and replaced him with Hughie McIlmoyle for the final, He left Leicester just weeks later, having scored 43 goals in 108 appearances,

He signed for Newcastle United for £25,000 for whom he scored a hat-trick on his debut in a friendly against Danish side Aarhus. costing £23,000. He also scored two goals in the first leg of the club's League Cup victory against their local rivals Aston Villa in the 1963 final. He made his debut against Doncaster Rovers on 6 November 1965 and finished his first season as top scorer with 11 goals. scoring 25 goals from 99 league games, and adding a goal in the League Cup. He followed it up with games against the other home nations, England and Northern Ireland, among six caps that year. He won another three caps in 1962, and played for a second time against England in 1963. It was another two years before he was selected again, winning three more in 1965, the latter two being both in 1966 World Cup qualifying matches against Greece. After his playing career, the family settled in Daventry, with Leek working for the Ford Motor Company before retiring in 1995. His grandson Karl Darlow became a professional footballer as a goalkeeper.