Joe Laidlaw, who played over 100 League games for three clubs including Carlisle United, has died at the age of 71.
In clocking up 514 Football League appearances for six different clubs, he actually played more (151) for Carlisle than others.
In a 15-year career he also gave good service to Middlesbrough (109), Doncaster (128), Portsmouth (60) and Hereford Utd (62) before retiring after four games with Mansfield Town.
Intriguingly, as football language changed, he started as a wing-half and finished his career as a midfielder. He would also be referred to now as a box-to-box player with an eye for a goal.
Indeed he notched 118 goals with 44 of them for Carlisle while he played for the Brunton Park club from 1972 to 1976.
Born in the North East at Whickham he played locally for Swalwell in the North Eastern League before joining Middlesbrough as an apprentice.
He signed his first professional contract in August 1967 and went on to make over 100 appearances for the club before joining Carlisle in July 1972. He proved a very popular performer for the Blues over his four years at Brunton Park.
Then followed three years with Doncaster Rovers before switching to Portsmouth in 1979 where he proved extremely popular with the Fratton Park faithful.
In his first season as captain he led Portsmouth to promotion, in a thrilling conclusion as they beat Northampton 2–0 while main rivals Bradford City lost 1–0 to Peterborough United.
Eight goals in 62 games for Hereford were his final serious contributions as his Mansfield career ended almost as soon as it had started.
After his professional playing career finished he returned to the Portsmouth area and turned out for Waterlooville, as well as managing local clubs Petersfield, Fareham, Chichester and Selsey.
Laidlaw was a well-known figure in the Portsmouth area and was a fixture on the parks scene, playing at a good level into his 60’s as well as appearing for the Pompey Former Players’ Association team.
The link between Laidlaw and Pompey looks set to endure, with grandson, Harvey, involved in the current academy set-up and appearing in their extra-time FA Youth Cup defeat to Cheltenham this week. Granddaughter Grace is part of Pompey Women’s development squad.
