Jordan commenced playing lower league football in Scotland for Blantyre Victoria F.C. aged just 15.
As an apprentice, Jordan combined playing with working as a draughtsman and was spotted by a Leeds scout, who recommended him to manager Don Revie.
Jordan cut a scary, imposing figure early in his career as he had his two front teeth forcibly removed by defenders.
He therefore had some dentures fitted which, for safety reasons, he would remove prior to every game, therefore giving him a toothless grin which made him look more frightening than the norm and gained him the nickname 'Jaws'.
But he was a strong, courageous and potent young striker and Revie got a bargain when Jordan's club, Greenock Morton F.C., accepted his offer of £15,000 in 1970.
There was little prospect of Jordan getting first team football straightaway as the feared partnership of Allan Clarke and Mick Jones were a long established duo and Jordan patiently waited his turn from the reserves while making the odd appearance in the event of minor injuries and suspensions.
In 1973, he appeared more often, managing 16 League starts and scoring nine goals but was unsurprisingly left out of the team which contested the FA Cup final against Sunderland which Leeds lost 1-0.
However, Revie selected him days later for the European Cup Winners Cup final against A.C. Milan, which again ended in a 1-0 defeat.
In the same month, Jordan played his first game for Scotland in a 1-0 defeat against England at Wembley.
Jordan started to appear more frequently for Leeds the following season as they coasted towards the League title thanks to an unbeaten run of 29 games at the start of the season.
He scored seven goals in 25 League games and had earned nine more Scotland caps by the end of the season, scoring two goals on the way (including one against England at Hampden Park) and making him a certainty to be selected in the Scotland squad for the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany.
Jordan scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Zaire in the first group game, and the last minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia.
Scotland emerged from the group unbeaten but still went out of the competition. Back at Leeds, Revie had gone to take over the England job and Jordan's main rival for the No.9 shirt, Jones, was fighting a losing battle with a knee injury, so the door was open for Jordan to establish himself fully as the club's main target man.
This he did to an extent, making 26 League appearances though his goal return of just four was mildly disappointing. His work-rate and positional play, however, earned him many plaudits.
He was in the team which contested the 1975 European Cup final against Bayern Munich which Leeds lost 2-0, a match which essentially was the last hurrah for Revie's side.
The more aged players began to leave the club and though a continuing regular for his country, the decaying situation at Leeds as the club dropped into mediocrity had an effect on Jordan, whose goalscoring never fully recovered.
In 1977, Jordan caused controversy during the decisive World Cup qualifying match between Scotland and Wales.
Late in the game, with the scores level, Scotland were attacking in the Wales penalty area when Jordan handled the ball. The referee, believing the ball to have been handled by a Welsh player, awarded a penalty, from which Scotland scored.
The victory meant that Scotland qualified for the World Cup at Wales' expense.
Leeds fans were shocked when just days into 1978, Leeds agreed a £350,000 pounds fee from hated enemies Manchester United F.C. and Jordan left for Old Trafford.
His fellow Scot, defender Gordon McQueen, made the same move a mere month later and though Leeds soldiered on, the team and club never recovered from losing all of its stars in quick succession and were relegated within four years.
Jordan had made 135 League appearances and scored 39 goals by the time he crossed the Pennines.
He was selected by Ally McLeod in the Scotland squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, scoring in the opening 3-1 defeat against Peru. Scotland again failed to qualify beyond the group stage.
At Manchester United, he settled quickly into another underachieving team and reached the FA Cup final in 1979 which they lost 3-2 to Arsenal F.C.
He emerged trophyless for two seasons thereafter before a surprise bid by A.C. Milan took him to Italy in 1981. In 1982, Jordan again went to the World Cup with Scotland.
The contest, held in Spain, would yet again see Scotland fail to progress beyond the group stages.
However, a personal milestone was achieved by Jordan when he scored in the 2-2 draw against the USSR, making him the only Scottish player to score in three World Cup finals.
Despite this extraordinary achievement, he got injured in the same match, missed the rest of the tournament and never played for his country again. His international career ended with 52 appearances and yielded ten goals. As a player with more than 50 caps, he holds a permanent place in the Scotland Hall of Fame.
After leaving Milan, where he was generally unsuccessful, he went on to play for Hellas Verona for a spell before returning to England to join Southampton F.C. in 1984.
He spent three years there as his career wound down, finishing his playing days at Bristol City, for whom he was also player-manager for a spell. Jordan returned to Scotland afterwards to coach Heart of Midlothian and for a time at Celtic, before returning for a second spell in charge of Bristol City and stints managing Huddersfield Town and Stoke City.
A highly respected coach in the game, he was part of Harry Redknapp's backroom team at Portsmouth and was placed in temporary charge in November 2004 when Redknapp resigned.
Jordan continued to coach the team under the management of Velimir Zajec and Alain Perrin before Redknapp returned after resigning from Southampton.
There are some Leeds fans with long memories - when Rio Ferdinand controversially left Leeds for Manchester United in 2002, a banner was unfurled at the next game shortlisting a number of "traitors" who had made the move from Elland Road to Old Trafford - the other names were Cantona, Jordan and McQueen.