LEON CONSTANTINE

'Leon Constantine' (born February 24 1978) is an English professional footballer.
Constantine was born in Hackney, London and played for Edgware Town before joining Millwall in September 2000. He made his debut for Millwall on September 30, 2000, coming on as a late substitute for Paul Ifill in a 4-1 win away to Peterborough United.
He had loan spells with Leyton Orient and Partick Thistle, before moving to Brentford on a free transfer in August 2002. He struggled to establish himself at Griffin Park and in August 2003 joined Southend United, initially on non-contract terms,^[1] signing a permanent deal the following month.^[2]
Despite scoring at a rate of one every other game for Southend, he turned down the offer of a new two-year contract^[3] and joined Peterborough United in May 2004.^[4] In October 2004, he joined Torquay United on loan^[5] and in December 2004 moved to Torquay for a club record fee of £75,000.^[6]
His form was disappointing for Torquay, scoring just seven times in 38 appearances, and he was transfer-listed in October 2005 by Torquay manager Leroy Rosenior, along with Darren Garner, Mamadou Sow, Carl Priso, Morike Sako and Nick Skinner.^[7] Constantine moved to Port Vale in November 2005,^[8] initially on loan, where he became a regular goalscorer. In the 2006-2007 season he broke a record, becoming the only Port Vale player to score more than 17 goals before Christmas. This happened when he scored twice against Brighton & Hove Albion on December 23, 2006.^[9]
He was set to move to Barnsley in the January 2007 transfer window, Vale agreeing a fee of £200,000 plus Marc Richards. However, the deal fell through when neither club could agree terms.^[10]
Despite finishing the season with 26 goals in all competitions for Port Vale (38 in 18 months for the club) he was never a fan favourite at Vale Park and split fans down the middle because of his lax looking approaches which made it appear that he was lazy and put no effort in.
Leon claimed this couldn't be further from the truth in several interviews with the local media and took a parting shot at the Vale "boo boys" before announcing he was leaving.
Constantine had been linked with a number of League One clubs throughout pre-season, however he agreed a contract in principle with Leeds United when they were in administration, paying out of his own pocket to take part in the pre-season programme. Leeds later completed the signing of Constantine on a 2 year contract on 7 August 2007.^[11]

Contents

References

External links

References

1. Constantine joins Blues
2. Southend sign Constantine
3. Southend deals for quartet
4. Posh sign Constantine
5. Constantine seals Gulls loan move
6. Constantine seals return to Gulls
7. Six put on list by Torquay boss
8. Constantine leaves Gulls for Vale
9. Port Vale 2-1 Brighton
10. Constantine's Tykes move is off
11. Leeds complete triple acquisition

External links

★

★ Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database