 Lee withLiverpool in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Samuel Lee[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1959-02-07)7 February 1959 (age 66)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1975–1976 | Liverpool | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1986 | Liverpool | 197 | (13) |
| 1986–1987 | Queens Park Rangers | 30 | (0) |
| 1987–1990 | Osasuna | 28 | (0) |
| 1989–1990 | →Southampton (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 1990–1991 | Bolton Wanderers | 4 | (0) |
| Total | 261 | (13) | |
| International career | |||
| 1977 | England Youth | 7 | (0) |
| 1981–1982 | England U21 | 6 | (0) |
| 1982–1984 | England | 14 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2007 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| 2008 | Liverpool (caretaker) | ||
| 2012 | Bolton Wanderers (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Samuel Lee (born 7 February 1959) is an English professionalfootballcoach and formerfootballer.
Lee played most of his career for hometown clubLiverpool during the 1970s and 1980s as amidfielder, and also representedEngland fourteen times. He also had playing spells atQueens Park Rangers,Osasuna,Southampton, andBolton Wanderers.
After retiring as a player, Lee joined the coaching staff at Liverpool before joiningSven-Göran Eriksson'sEngland set-up in 2001. He became assistant manager toSam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers in 2005, and their manager in 2007. He was then appointed assistant manager toRafael Benítez at Liverpool in 2008 before returning to Bolton Wanderers in 2012 as head of academy coaching and development. Lee was appointed assistant coach at Southampton underRonald Koeman in 2014 before joining Sam Allardyce's England staff two years later. Lee followed Allardyce toCrystal Palace andEverton in 2017. Lee re-joined Allardyce again at West Brom in December 2020 as an assistant.
 | This sectionabout a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Sammy Lee" footballer – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Born inLiverpool,[1] Lee rose through the ranks atLiverpool after joining on an apprenticeship in September 1975, making his first team debut on 8 April 1978, as a 6th minutesubstitute forDavid Johnson.Leicester City atAnfield were the opponents, as 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 aEuropean Cup semi-final againstFC Zürich and, although he didn't play, managerBob 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 the1981 League Cup final, Lee was at the centre of a controversial incident which left opponentsWest 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 anoffside position but when Liverpool full backAlan Kennedy scored with a follow-up shot, the goal stood. West Ham did equalise but Liverpool won the replay with Lee in the side.
Inthat year's European Cup semi-final againstBayern Munich, Lee was unusually asked to do a man-marking job onPaul Breitner, the strong and skilfulWest Germaninternational. Lee did the marking job to perfection and Liverpool went through to the final againstReal Madrid, which they won 1–0 with Lee again in the side.
Lee got his firstLeague 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 oftheir fourth European Cup triumph – Lee played in every game en route to the final and scored a clinching goal in the first leg of the semi-final atAnfield againstDinamo București.
Bobby Robson gave Lee the first of his 14England caps during this period, where he again scored on his debut in the 3–01984 UEFA European Championship qualifier victory overGreece, on 17 November 1982.
Injuries took their toll in 1985 and Lee struggled to regain his previous form. WithJan Mølby in the side, there was no longer a place for him at Liverpool. He left during August 1986, joiningQueens Park Rangers. Spells atCA Osasuna (where he reunited with former Liverpool teammateMichael Robinson),Southampton andBolton Wanderers followed before he retired from playing.
Lee's former Liverpoolcaptain,Graeme Souness, invited Lee to join his Anfield coaching staff in 1993. He did so with relish and gained respect to the extent that bothRoy Evans andGérard Houllier kept him on the payroll after Souness left, gaining promotion fromreserve team coach to the first team, under Houllier.
Lee became a part-time coach underSven-Göran Eriksson with England in 2001,[3] eventually leaving Liverpool to go full-time with the national set-up in July 2004.[4]
Lee went toBolton Wanderers in September 2005, as assistant toSam Allardyce. He was offered the role of manager of theEngland U21s in July 2006, but turned the move down and also left the senior England set-up.[5] He was given the affectionate nickname of "Little Sam" in contrast to Allardyce who was known as "Big Sam" by the Bolton Fans.
Allardyce left Bolton in April 2007 and Lee was confirmed as his replacement shortly afterwards.[6][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.[6] He was known for regularly citing the 'positives' in post-match interviews despite numerous defeats. He was linked with a return to Liverpool by becomingRafael Benítez's assistant after the pair watched a Liverpool reserve match together.[8] He was also linked to the assistant manager position atLeeds United underGary McAllister.[9] He became the firm favourite to become assistant coach to Rafa Benitez followingAlex Miller's departure from Liverpool and officially returned to the club when appointed on 16 May 2008.[10]
In November 2008, upon his return to theReebok Stadium for the first time since his departure, Lee stated that he bore no animosity towards the hierarchy at Bolton or their supporters, the Wanderers crowd responded by giving him a round of applause in appreciation of his spells as player and assistant manager.[11]
On 16 May 2008, Lee took up the role of assistant manager toRafael Benítez after signing a two-year contract.[12][13] On 21 December 2008, he took charge ofLiverpool for the first time in a 1–1 draw withArsenal due toRafael Benítez being ill withkidney stones.[14]
On 26 August 2009, Lee was sent off by refereePhil Dowd in a 2–1 defeat againstTottenham Hotspur,[15] and was charged with improper conduct by the Football Association on 19 August 2009.[16] He left Liverpool in June 2011 by mutual consent having remained at the club for the duration of Roy Hodgson’s tenure and the return of Kenny Dalglish.[17]
On 14 February 2012, Lee returned to Bolton for a third time, being appointed as the Head of Academy Coaching. His new role saw him take a senior role working alongside fellow ex-Wanderers players and Academy coachesJimmy Phillips,Tony Kelly,David Lee,Nicky Spooner andGavin McCann.[18]
On 9 October 2012, afterOwen Coyle's sacking, Lee andJimmy Phillips were named joint-caretaker managers.[19] However, Phillips took charge of first team affairs, with Lee joining up withJulian Darby to assist him.
On 27 June 2014, Lee agreed to leave Bolton to joinBrighton & Hove Albion as assistant manager toSami Hyypia, with both knowing each other from their time together at Liverpool.[20] However, on 29 June it was announced that he would instead take a coaching position withSouthampton, alongside newly appointed managerRonald Koeman.[21] Lee left Southampton at the end of June 2016, following Koeman's departure and the appointment ofClaude Puel as manager.[22]
On 25 July 2016, it was announced that Lee had rejoinedSam Allardyce as a member ofEngland's coaching staff.[23] He left the role in December 2016, following the appointment ofGareth Southgate as manager.[24]
AfterSam Allardyce was appointedCrystal Palace manager, Lee was appointed his assistant on 10 January 2017.[25]
After the departure of Allardyce fromSelhurst Park at the end of the2016–17 season, Lee continued as assistant manager under the club's new manager,Frank de Boer.[26] In September 2017, after de Boer's departure, Lee also left the club.[27]
On 1 December 2017, Lee was appointed assistant manager atEverton following the appointment ofSam Allardyce as manager the previous day.[28] He departedEverton on 16 May 2018 following the sacking of Allardyce.[29]
On 16 December 2020, Lee was appointed assistant head coach to Sam Allardyce after his appointment as manager atWest Bromwich Albion.[30]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Liverpool[31] | 1976–77 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1977–78 | First Division | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1978–79 | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1979–80 | First Division | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| 1980–81 | First Division | 37 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 9[b] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 8 | |
| 1981–82 | First Division | 35 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5[b] | 1 | 1[c] | 0 | 49 | 4 | |
| 1982–83 | First Division | 40 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 58 | 3 | |
| 1983–84 | First Division | 42 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 9[b] | 1 | 1[d] | 0 | 67 | 3 | |
| 1984–85 | First Division | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
| 1985–86 | First Division | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 5[e] | 0 | 26 | 0 | ||
| Total | 197 | 13 | 17 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 33 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 295 | 19 | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 1986–87 | First Division | 30 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 0 | ||||||
| Osasuna | 1987–88[32] | La Liga | 22 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | – | – | 29 | 0 | |||
| 1988–89[32] | La Liga | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||||
| 1989–90[32] | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 28 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | ||
| Southampton (loan) | 1989–90 | First Division | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| Bolton Wanderers | 1990–91 | Third Division | 4 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | |||||||
| Career total | 261 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 33 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 367 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1982 | 2 | 1 |
| 1983 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 14 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 November 1982 | Kaftanzoglio Stadium,Thessaloniki, Greece | 1 |  Greece | 3–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying | [34] |
| 2 | 12 October 1983 | Népstadion,Budapest, Hungary | 9 |  Hungary | 2–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying | [35] |
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Bolton Wanderers | 30 April 2007 | 17 October 2007 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 021.4 |
| Total | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 021.4 | ||
Liverpool
England Under 21
Koeman's assistant manager, Sammy Lee, has left the Saints
