Peter Patrick Lorimer (14 December 1946 – 20 March 2021) was a Scottish professional footballer who mainly played for Leeds United and Scotland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. An attacking midfielder and the club's youngest-ever player, he was renowned for his very powerful shots from distance. From 1984 to 1985 he was club captain. Lorimer is the club record scorer with 238 goals in all competitions. He was voted Leeds' ninth greatest player ever and on to the greatest Leeds United team of all time.
After retiring as a player, Lorimer became a member of the Leeds board of directors, provided match commentary on BBC Radio Leeds and Yorkshire Radio and wrote a regular column in the Yorkshire Evening Post. From April 2013 he held the position of club ambassador.
Early life
Lorimer was born in Dundee to Janet and Peter Lorimer and was brought up in Broughty Ferry on the edge of the city. He attended Eastern Primary School and later Stobswell Secondary School, where he played for the school's football team.
Club career
Leeds United
After playing junior football in Dundee for Stobswell Boys and Broughty YMCA, Lorimer signed for Leeds United in May 1962 after scoring for the Scotland Schoolboys team in a 4–2 win over England. He made his Leeds debut on 29 September 1962 against Southampton, aged 15 years and 289 days, becoming the youngest player to play for the first team. He became renowned for these strikes, with his shots reaching speeds of up to 90 mph. One penalty kick was recorded at 107 mph.
In the 1966–67 season, Lorimer made his first major headlines when a free-kick equaliser against Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final was controversially ruled out by referee Ken Burns and retaken, for the Chelsea players had not retreated the necessary 10 yards. Chelsea held on to win the game. In the 1975 European Cup Final, Lorimer scored to give Leeds a 1–0 lead, only for the goal to be controversially disallowed by referee Michel Kitabdjian, with Leeds going on to lose the game. During this time he had won two League titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup, a Charity Shield, and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups.
Later career
He played for York City and then tried his luck in the North American Soccer League (NASL). Lorimer played for two clubs: the Toronto Blizzard (1979–1980) and the Vancouver Whitecaps (1981–83). In January 1983 he signed for University College Dublin.
Lorimer returned to Leeds United in 1983, aged 37, two seasons after Leeds had fallen into the Football League Second Division.
International career
Lorimer made his international debut for Scotland against Austria in November 1969. Lorimer remained a dedicated spokesman for Leeds United after retirement – he was always one of the first ex-players to whom broadcasters and journalists turned when the club was in the news. He worked as a pundit at games for BBC Radio Leeds and as a columnist for the local paper, the Yorkshire Evening Post. He died on 20 March 2021, aged 74.
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="18"|Leeds United
|1962–63
|Second Division
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
|1963–64
|Second Division
|0||0||0||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|1964–65
|First Division
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
|1965–66
|First Division
|34||13||2||3||0||0||9||3||colspan="2"|—||45||19
|-
|1966–67
|First Division
|29||9||6||2||2||2||5||1||colspan="2"|—||42||14
|-
|1967–68
|First Division
|37||16||5||2||6||4||12||8||colspan="2"|—||60||30
|-
|1968–69
|First Division
|29||9||2||1||3||0||7||3||colspan="2"|—||41||13
|-
|1969–70
|First Division
|39||14||8||2||3||0||7||3||1||0||58||19
|-
|1970–71
|First Division
|38||12||4||2||1||0||10||5||colspan="2"|—||53||19
|-
|1971–72
|First Division
|42||23||7||3||4||2||2||1||colspan="2"|—||55||29
|-
|1972–73
|First Division
|41||15||8||3||5||3||9||2||colspan="2"|—||63||23
|-
|1973–74
|First Division
|37||12||5||2||0||0||5||0||colspan="2"|—||47||14
|-
|1974–75
|First Division
|36||9||4||0||5||3||8||4||1||0||53||16
|-
|1975–76
|First Division
|29||10||2||0||2||1||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||33||11
|-
|1976–77
|First Division
|26||3||2||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||28||3
|-
|1977–78
|First Division
|28||6||0||0||4||3||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||32||9
|-
|1978–79
|First Division
|3||0||0||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||4||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!450!!151!!55!!20!!37!!18!!74!!30!!2!!0!!618!!219
|-
|Cape Town City (loan)
|1971
|National Football League
|6||8||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||6||8
|-
|Toronto Blizzard
|1979
|North American Soccer League
|29||9||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||29||9
|-
|York City
|1979–80
|Fourth Division
|29||8||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||29||8
|-
|Toronto Blizzard
|1980
|North American Soccer League
|18||2||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||18||2
|-
|rowspan="4"|Vancouver Whitecaps
|1981
|North American Soccer League
|27||8||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||27||8
|-
|1982
|North American Soccer League
|28||10||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||28||10
|-
|1983
|North American Soccer League
|25||4||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||25||4
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!80!!22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!80!!22
|-
|University College Dublin (loan)
|1982–83
|League of Ireland
|3||0||||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||3||0
|-
|rowspan="4"|Leeds United
|1983–84
|Second Division
|22||4||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||25||4
|-
|1984–85
|Second Division
|40||9||1||0||3||1||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||44||10
|-
|1985–86
|Second Division
|14||4||0||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||2||1||18||5
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!76!!17!!4!!0!!5!!1!!0!!0!!2!!1!!80!!22
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!691!!217!!59!!20!!42!!19!!74!!30!!4!!1!!870!!287
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="6"|Scotland
|1969||1||0
|-
|1971||2||0
|-
|1972||5||3
|-
|1973||3||0
|-
|1974||7||1
|-
|1975||3||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!21!!4
|}
:Scores and results list Scotland goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Scotland goal.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of international goals scored by Peter Lorimer
|-
!scope="col"|No.
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Venue
!scope="col"|Opponent
!scope="col"|Score
!scope="col"|Result
!scope="col"|Competition
|-
|align="center"|1
|
|Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland
|
|align="center"|2–0
|align="center"|2–0
|1971–72 British Home Championship
|-
|align="center"|2
|
|Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland
|
|align="center"|1–0
|align="center"|1–0
|1971–72 British Home Championship
|-
|align="center"|3
|
|Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland
|
|align="center"|2–0
|align="center"|2–0
|1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
|-
|align="center"|4
|
|Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany
|
|align="center"|1–0
|align="center"|2–0
|1974 FIFA World Cup
|}
Honours
Leeds United
- FA Cup: 1971–72; runner-up: 1969–70, 1972–73
- Rothmans Golden Boots Awards: 1973