By Jim Coyle, Vice-Chair of RamsTrust

I was 19 years old and it was the spring of 1975. Derby County had just been crowned Champions of England for the second time in three years. I was living in what felt like a perfect world. My Rams were fulfilling my dreams for me. Cloud 9 was real.

Even in a time that seemed perfect, dreams of improvement always encroach into the mind of a football fan. We always hope for more but at clubs like Derby, we don’t really expect it. My fantastical hope, dream even, was that we could sign Charlie George and Leighton James. By November we had them both – unbelievable!

Leighton James was a special talent as he had proved at Burnley and at £300,000 was the Rams’ record signing. To me he was the perfect replacement for Alan Hinton whose spectacular Rams career was ending.

Leighton was a real winger who hugged the touchline and taunted his full back. His acceleration was formidable and his threat was real. Trying to replace the legend, Hinton, was never going to be easy but Leighton James was the man to do it. He took a little time to settle at Derby but his talent was always evident.

Then disaster struck in September 1977. Tommy Doherty arrived at Derby. He chose to swap Leighton for the fading Don Masson at QPR. After 23 games Masson was swapped for Steve Carter, a winger at Notts County. Doherty had essentially swapped Leighton James for Steve Carter. Really?

Leighton James made 89 appearances for Derby and scored 21 goals, including a hat-trick in the Rams’ record 12-0 win at the Baseball Ground in the UEFA Cup first round. He was also Derby County’s Player of the Year in 1976-1977.

I loved watching Leighton James. He was a ‘proper’ footballer. In reality, he will be remembered as a legend at Burnley for whom he appeared 335 times over three spells. But I was honoured to see him wear the black and white of Derby County. A Rams record breaker.

Sleep well, Leighton.