Rob Lee

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Rob Lee
Personal information
Full name Robert Martin Lee
Date of birth February 1, 1966 (age 40)
Place of birth West Ham, England
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club none
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1983-1992
1992-2001
2001-2003
2003-2005
2005
2005-2006		 Charlton Athletic
Newcastle United
Derby County
West Ham United
Oldham Athletic
Wycombe Wanderers		 298 (59)
303 (44)
48 (2)
16 (0)
0 (0)
38 (0)
National team
1995-1998 England 21 (2)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.

Robert Martin Lee (born February 1, 1966 in West Ham, London) was an English football player.

Contents

[edit] Charlton Athletic

Lee came through the academy of Charlton Athletic and established himself in the first team by the 1984-85 season. He rapidly became the Addicks star midfielder, although Charlton were relegated to the old Division Two at the end of the 1989-90 season, Lee stayed with the club and tried to help them gain promotion again.

[edit] Newcastle United

Charlton were still in the old Second Division (renamed the First Divsion) in 1992, partly due to their unhealthy financial status. As a result of this, Charlton manager Alan Curbishley was forced to sell Lee to Newcastle United for £700,000 to help with Charlton's debts. Newcastle were also in the same division as Charlton, but in a much healthier situation under the guidance of Sir John Hall. Lee helped Newcastle gain promotion to the FA Premier League for the 1993-94 season.

Under the guidance of manager Kevin Keegan and his assistant Terry McDermott, Newcastle were able to challenge for the Premier League title for several seasons following their promotion. Lee played a part in the team that pushed the likes of Manchester United to the wire in the title chase in between the years of 1993-1996. Keegan resigned as manager of Newcastle United in January 1997, with Kenny Dalglish was appointed his successor shortly after.

Dalglish was not able to guide Newcastle to the heights that Keegan had and the team languished in mid-table for numerous seasons, although Dalglish had faith in Lee to provide the goods for Newcastle. It was during this period that Lee was handed the captaincy of the club. Dalglish was later sacked after the lack of success at Newcastle and the club appointed Ruud Gullit as his replacement.

Lee fell out of favour at Newcastle under the new boss after many disagreements between the two behind the scenes, resulting in Lee not even receiving a squad number for the new season. He was also stripped of his captaincy and forced to train alone. However, Gullit was sacked shortly after the start of the season and Sir Bobby Robson arrived as his replacement. Under Robson, Lee found a way back into the team, as did team-mate Alan Shearer who was also out of favour with Gullit.

Lee's old squad number 7, taken away by Ruud Gullit, had previously been given to Kieron Dyer, but at Dyer's insistence, Lee took the number 7 jersey back again. With Robson as manager, Lee turned into a more of a defending midfielder that held up the play and allowed others to get forward rather than the attacking midfielder that he had been in the mid 1990s.

In the 2001/-02 season, Lee wanted to extend his contract with the club, but Newcastle insisted that they waited until January 2002 before negotiating. Lee was not happy with the way the contract talks were being handled, so he handed in a transfer request. The supporters and the players were surprised at his decision, and manager Bobby Robson was sorry about the situation but respected Rob Lee's decision. By February 2002, Lee had been sold to Derby County for £250,000.

However, his 10 years at the club meant he became a hero at Newcastle, despite his decision to leave.

[edit] Later career

After a short spell with Derby County, Lee was sold to West Ham, the club he had supported as a boy. However, he played only a handful of games for the Hammers during the 2003-04 season. Following this, he was released on a free transfer, and has had trials with English clubs Oldham Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers since then, and was later signed full time by the latter. Lee left Wycombe in June 2006, following the dismissal of John Gorman as the club's manager.

[edit] International career

Lee was capped 21 times for England, scoring two goals. He played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Clubs

[edit] Trivia

  • When Lee was about to leave Charlton, the manager at Newcastle United (Kevin Keegan) allegedly sold his club to Lee over an opportunity to go to Middlesbrough by telling Lee that "Newcastle was much nearer to London". Although this was a reference to the fact that there are regular flights from Newcastle to London as opposed to Middlesbrough so if not nearer in distance then a lot nearer in transport time.
  • Kevin Keegan gave Robert Lee the title of 'Best Midfielder in Britain' during his time at Newcastle United


England England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup England

1 Seaman | 2 Campbell | 3 Le Saux | 4 Ince | 5 Adams | 6 Southgate | 7 Beckham | 8 Batty | 9 Shearer | 10 Sheringham | 11 McManaman | 12 Neville | 13 Martyn | 14 Anderton | 15 Merson | 16 Scholes | 17 Lee | 18 Keown | 19 L. Ferdinand | 20 Owen | 21 R. Ferdinand | 22 Flowers | Coach: Hoddle
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