Sammy Lee (footballer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sammy Lee
Personal information
Full name Samuel Lee
Date of birth 7 February 1959 (1959-02-07) (age 49)
Place of birth    Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Playing position Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club Liverpool (Assistant Manager)
Youth clubs
1975–1976 Liverpool
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1976–1986
1986–1987
1987–1990
1990
1990–1991		 Liverpool
Queens Park Rangers
Osasuna
Southampton
Bolton Wanderers
Total		 197 (13)
030 0(0)
028 0(0)
002 0(0)
004 0(0)
261 (13)   
National team
1981–1983
1983–1984		 England Under-21
England		 006
014 0(2)
Teams managed
2007 Bolton Wanderers

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Samuel "Sammy" Lee (born 7 February 1959 in Liverpool) is an English football coach and former player. He played most notably for hometown club Liverpool and the English national team during the 1970s and 1980s. Most recently, Lee was manager of Bolton Wanderers between April and October of 2007.[1] He returned to his former club, Liverpool on 16 May 2008, taking up the role of Assistant Manager to Rafael Benitez after signing a 2 year contract.[2][3]

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Lee rose through the ranks at Liverpool after joining on an apprenticeship in September 1975, making his first team debut on 8 April 1978 as a 6th minute sub for David Johnson. Leicester City at Anfield were the opponents; Lee managed to find the net in the 56th minute of the 3–2 victory. A year earlier he had been put in the squad for a huge European Cup semi-final and although he didn't play, manager Bob Paisley said he would have had no qualms about using him if required.

Lee became a regular from 1980 onwards and, although small in stature, he established a reputation as a sharp-passing and strong-running midfield player who could also hit a decent shot. In the 1981 League Cup final, Lee was at the centre of a controversial incident which left opponents West Ham United feeling slightly cheated. Lee had ventured forwards in an attack and ended up flat out on the turf following a challenge. The West Ham defence pushed out of their area to leave Lee in an obvious offside position but when Liverpool full back Alan Kennedy scored with a follow-up shot, the goal stood. The rules about "interfering with play" were still vague back then, and there is no doubt that a similar goal now would also be allowed to stand without complaint. West Ham did equalise but Liverpool won the replay with Lee in the side.

In that year's European Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich, Lee was unusually asked to do a man-marking job on Paul Breitner, the strong and skilful West German player. It was the first instance Liverpool players recall of worrying at all about an opponent, normally preferring to let the opposition do the worrying, but Lee did the marking job to perfection and Liverpool went through to the final against Real Madrid, which they won 1-0 with Lee again in the side.

Lee got this first League title medal in 1982 and also helped Liverpool retain the League Cup; the same applied in 1983 and 1984, the latter of which was also the year of their fourth European Cup triumph – Lee played in every game en route to the final and scored a clinching goal of the 1st leg at Anfield against Dinamo Bucharest in the semi-final.

Bobby Robson gave Lee the first of his 14 England caps during this period, he again scored on his debut in the 3–0 European Championship qualifier victory over Greece on 17 November 1982.

Injuries took their toll in 1985 and Lee struggled to regain his previous form. With Jan Mølby in the side, there was no longer a place for Lee at Liverpool. He left during the August of 1986 joining Queens Park Rangers. Spells at CA Osasuna, Southampton and Bolton Wanderers followed before he retired from playing.

Lee remains a favourite amongst Liverpool supporters and was included in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. Over 110,000 Liverpool fans worldwide voted in the official Liverpool Football Club web-sitepoll for their 100 favourite players of all-time with Lee finishing 47th.

[edit] Coaching career

His former Liverpool captain, Graeme Souness, invited Lee to join his Anfield coaching staff in 1993. He did so with relish and gained respect to the extent that both Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier kept him on the payroll after Souness left, gaining promotion from reserve team coach to first team coach under Houllier.

Lee became a part-time coach under Sven-Göran Eriksson with England in 2001,[4] eventually leaving Liverpool to go full-time with the national set-up in July 2004.[5] He returned to club football with Bolton Wanderers in June 2005 as assistant to manager Sam Allardyce. Lee was offered the role of manager of the England U-21 team in August 2006, but he turned the move down and also left the senior England set-up.[6]

Allardyce left Bolton in April 2007 and Lee was confirmed as his replacement shortly afterwards.[7] After only winning one league game from eleven matches he was sacked in October 2007, becoming the second premier league manager to be sacked in that season.[1] He was linked with a return to Liverpool by becoming Rafael Benitez's assistant after the pair watched a Liverpool reserve match together.[8] He was also linked to the assistant manager position at Leeds United under Gary McAllister.[9] He became the firm favourite to become assistant coach to Rafa Benitez following Alex Miller's departure from Liverpool and officially returned to the club when appointed on 16 May 2008.[10]

[edit] Honours

Liverpool

[edit] Trivia

Sammy also used to be a member of the Scout Association.

In the early 1980s Sammy appeared in an episode of Boys from the Blackstuff alongside his Liverpool team mate Graeme Souness.

He was known as "Little Sam" during his time as Assistant Manager to Sam Allardyce at Bolton in reference to the height difference to the two.

[edit] Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Bolton Wanderers Flag of England April 30, 2007 October 17, 2007 14 3 7 4 21.43

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Club Statement. Bolton Wanderers F.C. official website (2007-10-17). Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
  2. ^ Lee clinches return to Liverpool. BBC (2008-05-16). Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  3. ^ BENITEZ WELCOMES LEE ADDITION. Liverpoolfc.tv (2008-05-16). Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  4. ^ "Lee steps up to England role", BBC News, 2001-05-18. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
  5. ^ "Lee takes full-time FA role", BBC News, 2004-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
  6. ^ "Lee leaves England coaching team", BBC News, 2006-08-08. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
  7. ^ "Lee appointed manager of Bolton", BBC News, 2007-04-30. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
  8. ^ "Rafa Benitez and Sammy Lee's old pals' act", icLiverpool, 2007-11-14. Retrieved on 2008-01-08. 
  9. ^ "Leeds United number two: decision due", Yorkshire Evening Post, 2008-02-01. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. 
  10. ^ Lee lined up as Rafa's assistant. Teamtalk (2008-05-09). Retrieved on 2008-05-09.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Bolton Wanderers F.C. – Managers

Mather (1915–19) • Foweraker (1919–44) • Rowley (1944–50) • Ridding (1950–68) • Lofthouse (1968–70) • McIlroy (1970) • Meadows (1970) • Lofthouse (1971) • Armfield (1971–74) • Greaves (1974–80) • Anderson (1980–81) • Mulhall (1981–82) • McGovern (1982–85) • Wright (1985) • Neal (1985–92) • Rioch (1992–95) • McFarland (1995–96) • Todd (1996–99) • Allardyce (1999–2007) • Lee (2007) • Megson (2007–)