Ian James Baird (born 1 April 1964) is an English former professional footballer whose most notable spells were as a Leeds United player.
[2] Baird started his career playing for local sides Bitterne Saints and St. Mary's College before signing with Southampton in 1982–83.
[2] In March 1985 after only 22 appearances and five goals for Southampton he moved to Leeds United for £75,000,[2] having turned down transfers to Manchester City and Middlesbrough earlier in the season.
[5] He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat to Portsmouth on 12 March 1985, scoring his first goal in his fourth appearance, a 2–1 victory over Manchester City one month later.
Leeds drew the two-legged play-offs final with Charlton Athletic (1–0, 0–1) but lost a one-off deciding rubber (1–2 aet) at St Andrews and remained in the Second Division.
[7] Keen to move back to the South of England, he was signed as a replacement for Micky Quinn, who was expected to leave the club soon after and his sale used to fund Baird's arrival.
He was dropped from the first team over the Christmas period and was made to train away from the rest of the squad, along with Kenny Swain, after criticising Ball in a newspaper interview.
[5] Despite Wilkinson's attempts to dissuade him, including an offer of an improved contract,[5] he decided to leave the club having played 77 league games and scored 17 goals.
[5] Baird stayed at Boro until the end of 1990–91 when he moved to Hearts on a two-year contract, being persuaded to join by his former Southampton teammate Joe Jordan who was managing the club.
However, he suffered a torn thigh muscle that restricted his appearances and later claimed that returning early from the injury severely affected his form as he failed to score during the second half of the season.
[9] Mounting injury problems eventually forced Baird to retire in 1997 after being advised by a surgeon that continuing would damage his knee.
[9] After retiring from his playing career Ian went to Hong Kong taking charge of Instant-Dict, a team in their top division, and also the national side in 1999 for the 2000 Asian Cup qualifiers.