The Longside Reference

Name: Leon Terence Anthony Cort

D.O.B: 11th September 1979

Place of birth : South London

Previous Clubs:Millwall, Forest Green (Loan), Stevenage Borough(Loan), Southend United, Hull City, Crystal Palace, Stoke City(Loan), Stoke City, Burnley, Preston(Loan), Charlton (Loan) 

Signed by Brian Laws

Transfer Fee: 1.5 million

Burnley Debut: 30th January 2010, v Chelsea (H) L 1-2 (Premier  League)

Last Game for Burnley:

Claret Stats: 19 Appearances, No goals

International Honours:

Claret Stat: The ink was barely dry on Nicky Weavers transfer, when Leon followed suit which saw him switching the red and white stripes of Stoke for the Claret and Blue of Burnley.

Leon Cort began his career at local non-league side Dulwich Hamlet, before signing pro-forms with his local league club Millwall in 1998, although Leon didn't make an appearance for the Lions, he was loaned out twice to Forest Green Rovers and Stevenage Borough, before signing for Southend United on a free Transfer three years later.

While at Southend Cort became a regular in the side, achieving a remarkable feat of appearing in 130 consecutive league matches without missing any through injury or suspension, playing 137 in total scoring 11 goals.

In May 2004 Hull City manager Peter Taylor signed Leon again on a free transfer, Cort and Hull were promoted that season, to The Championship.

Peter Taylor departed to Crystal Palace  in 2006 and made Cort his first signing for £1.25m, winning the Player of the Year Award in 2007.

When Neil Warnock took over at Palace after Peter Taylor was sacked, Leon found himself out of the side a loan move move to the Potteries followed, and after 14 games and 4 goals a fee of £1.2 million was agreed and Cort became a Stoke player.

After finding first team opportunities hard to come by at Stoke , Leon Cort  signed for the Clarets on 27 January 2010 for £1.5 million pounds signing a 3-and-a-half year deal.

Under Laws, Leon became the first choice centre half, in Burnley slide out of the Premiership, making 15 Premier Leage appearances.

Burnley and Cort were relegated, and with that relegation Leon Cort fell out of favour the tall centre half could only manage four appearences before being shipped out to Preston North End on a one month loan deal in the January transfer window, the one month loan deal ended up with Leon spending the season at Deepdale.

Maybe Burnley was the wrong club at the right time or the right club at the wrong time for Leon, who made 4 appearances for Burnley and one more from the bench, he didn't set the world on fire in Burnleys Championship season under Brain Laws, he recived one red card and one yellow for his troubles.

  Preston North End fans have on the other hand taken to the tall centre back, and after 13 starts he didnt receive one card red or yellow as he made a solid base for Preston's relegation fight alongside Wayne Brown at the heart of Prestons defence.

 Preston were relegated at the end of the season, and Leon came back to Burnley, where with a further two years still to run on his contract, looks to be spending time out of the first team, with the Burnley fans not allowing Leon much time to prove himself to the Clarets faithful, he will always be remembered for the below par performances he gave in Burnleys relegation from the Premiership and the inept Championship performances he gave.

After a no-holds barred interview with Burnley Chairman Barry Kilby, where he stated "It would be best for both parties if Leon moved on and continued his career elsewhere" less than a week later Leon was off on a season long loan at Charlton Athletic who are playing in League One.

In January 2012, Burnley terminated Leons contract 'by mutual concent', Leon was on a hiding to nothing in winning over the Claret fans, with several poor performances and the link between him and manager Laws. Cort made just 19 appearances for Burnley at a cost os £63.000 a game (possibly the worst finacial signing Burnley has ever made).