Rob Lee

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

Lee came through the academy of Charlton Athletic and established himself in the first team by the 1984/1985 season. He rapidly became the Addicks star midfielder, although Charlton were relegated to the old Divison Two at the end of the 1989/1990 season, Lee stayed with the club and tried to help them gain promotion again.

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 1993/1994 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 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 insistance, 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 the mid 1990s.

In the 2001/2002 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.

After a short spell with Derby, 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 2003/2004 season. Following this, he was released on a free transfer, and has had trials with English clubs Oldham Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers since then.

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

Clubs

• Charlton Athletic (1983–1992)
• Newcastle United (1992–2002)
• Derby County (2002–2003)
• West Ham United (2003–2004)
• Oldham Athletic (2004–2005)
• Wycombe Wanderers (2005-present)