Gordon Lee (footballer)
Gordon Francis Lee (13 July 1934 – 8 March 2022) was an English football player and manager. He played 144 league and cup matches in a 12-year career in the Football League, before going on to greater success as a manager, as he would take charge of 777 matches in a 23-year managerial career.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gordon Francis Lee | ||
| Date of birth | 13 July 1934 | ||
| Place of birth | Pye Green, Hednesford, England | ||
| Date of death | 8 March 2022 (aged 87) | ||
| Position(s) | Right-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Girton Road Gasworks | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1955 | Hednesford Town | ||
| 1955–1966 | Aston Villa | 118 | (2) |
| 1966–1967 | Shrewsbury Town | 2 | (0) |
| Total | 120+ | (2+) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1968–1974 | Port Vale | ||
| 1974–1975 | Blackburn Rovers | ||
| 1975–1977 | Newcastle United | ||
| 1977–1981 | Everton | ||
| 1981–1983 | Preston North End | ||
| 1985–1987 | KR Reykjavik | ||
| 1991 | Leicester City (caretaker) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
A right-back during his playing days, he moved from Hednesford Town to Aston Villa in 1955. He spent the next eleven years with the "Villans", winning a League Cup winners medal in 1961, as well as a League Cup runners-up medal in 1963. He then moved on to Shrewsbury Town in 1966, where he made the shift from player to coach.
Lee began his management career with Port Vale in 1968, leading them to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1969–70. Switching to Blackburn Rovers in January 1974, he took them to the Third Division title in 1974–75. This won him the top job at Newcastle United, and in 1976 he led Newcastle to the League Cup final. He took up the reins at Everton in January 1977, and also took them to the League Cup final later in the year. After losing his job at Everton in May 1981, he was appointed manager of Preston North End, before he departed two years later. In 1985, he moved to Iceland to manage KR Reykjavik, before he left the club in 1987. Returning to England behind the scenes at Leicester City, he spent a brief period of 1991 as the club's caretaker manager.