Mikele Leigertwood

Club

Leigertwood was born in Enfield. He began his career with Wimbledon, but he made his professional debut while on loan to Leyton Orient in November 2001. He got his first game at Wimbledon at the end of the 2001–2002 season, in a 1–0 defeat against Barnsley. While at Wimbledon, he played 65 games, scoring just three times in games against Norwich, Watford and Portsmouth in the League Cup.

He transferred to Crystal Palace for £155,000 in January 2004, becoming the first permanent signing of Iain Dowie, and played in 10 league games for the remainder of the 2003–2004 season, helping to secure Palace's promotion to the FA Premier League. In the 2004–2005 season, he made 23 appearances for Palace, including his first goal for the club against Tottenham Hotspur.

After the relegation of his club Crystal Palace, he joined Sheffield United on a three-year deal after the Blades paid a £600,000 compensation fee. Although Leigertwood was out of contract, a fee was due as he was under 24 years of age at the time. Leigertwood joined Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £900,000 in August 2007.

During his time at Queens Park Rangers, he made 141 appearances and 12 goals for Queens Park Rangers. Leigertwood went on loan to Reading in November 2010 after being out of favour with Neil Warnock. After a series of consistently good performances, this was extended to the end of the 2011 season, including the playoffs should it be needed. He scored his first goal for the club against Stevenage in the FA Cup on 29 January 2011. A week later Leigertwood added another goal to his tally with a 21st minute deflected strike against Cardiff City in a 2–2 draw.

In May 2011, it was announced that Reading had signed Leigertwood on a three-year contract. Leigertwood's first goal of the 2011/12 season came at home to Southampton in a 1–1 draw. His second goal of the campaign came at home to Leicester in a 3–1 win, and this was followed up with strikes against Blackpool and West Ham United as Reading surged towards promotion with an incredible run of games of which Leigertwood was an important figure in. The key role Leigertwood had played was rewarded when he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory at home to Nottingham Forest which secured Reading's promotion back to the top flight after a four-year absence. He scored his first Premier League goal for Reading in a 3–3 draw with Fulham with a superb strike from 20 yards. After a year out injured, Leigertwood made his Reading return on 8 April 2014. On 6 May 2014 Leigertwood was released from Reading, and in July joined Nottingham Forest on trial. Whilst on trial, Leigertwood sustained a hip injury which forced him to retire from the game.

International

Leigertwood is eligible to represent Antigua and Barbuda. Willie Donachie, Antigua and Barbuda's manager, tried to get Leigertwood into the squad for a World Cup Qualifier in June 2008, but Leigertwood had a wedding to attend. Leigertwood received a red card and four match ban in a match against Birmingham City on 28 October 2008, for a challenge on Lee Carsley. During this ban, he accepted a call up for the 2008 Caribbean Championship to represent Antigua and Barbuda. He made his national debut on 5 November 2008 in a 3–2 loss against Trinidad and Tobago and scored his first goal in their next match against Guyana. In November 2010 he returned to the national team and participated in the second stage of the 2010 Caribbean Championship, playing in all three matches.

After football

After retiring from professional football, Leigertwood took up a coaching role at Maccabi London Lions as their Sunday Team Coach.

On 19 July 2016 Leigertwood returned to Reading as Academy Loan Manager.

Club

Club