 Signing for Darlington for a fee of £8,000 in October 1974 he spent the 1974–75 season with the then Fourth Division club before moving on to Carlisle United, newly relegated to the Second Division, in June 1975.Although a transfer request was accepted in November that same year, Burleigh remained with Carlisle until 1977.He then returned to Darlington for a further two-year spell, in the first of which he was the club's player of the season.