Football coach and manager. Born in Lochgelly (Fife), Leishman was educated in the town and at Beath High School (Cowdenbeath). He began his footballing career as a schoolboy when he signed for Dunfermline Athletic in 1968, but just six years later his playing career came to a premature end as the result of a broken leg. He began his career in management with small Fife clubs but after a brief period as assistant manager at Cowdenbeath, he was appointed coach at Dunfermline. By 1983 he was manager, leading his team to promotion into the Premier League in 1987, but in 1990 he left having refused a move out of management.
He was appointed manager of Inverness Thistle and then Montrose. When he took the same role at Livingston in 1995, the team had just moved from Edinburgh and changed its name from Meadowbank Thistle. Leishman brought the club from Division Three, when he joined, to the Premier League in 2001. He returned to Dunfermline in 2003 as General Manager, stepping in as caretaker-manager in 2005.
He appears regularly on television and radio, is a popular after-dinner speaker and was awarded an MBE in 2007.
