Sammy Lee

Born in Liverpool, 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 substitute for David Johnson. Leicester City at Anfield 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 a European Cup semi-final against FC Zürich 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 offside position but when Liverpool full back Alan Kennedy scored with a follow-up shot, the goal stood. 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 international. Lee did the marking job to perfection and Liverpool went through to the final against Real Madrid, which they won 1–0 with Lee…

Lee's 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 the first team, under Houllier. Lee became a part-time coach under Sven-Göran Eriksson with England in 2001, eventually leaving Liverpool to go full-time with the national set-up in July 2004.

Bolton Wanderers

Lee went to Bolton Wanderers in September 2005, as assistant to Sam Allardyce. He was offered the role of manager of the England U21s in July 2006, but turned the move down and also left the senior England set-up. 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. 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. He was known for regularly citing the 'positives' in post-match interviews despite numerous defeats. He was linked with a return to Liverpool by becoming Rafael Benítez's assistant after the pair watched a Liverpool reserve match together. He was also linked to the assistant manager position at Leeds United under Gary McAllister. He became the firm favourite to become assistant coach to Rafa…

Club

International

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lee goal.

Liverpool

Football League First Division: 1979-80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86 League Cup: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 FA Charity Shield: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared) European Cup: 1980–81, 1983–84 England Under 21

UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1982