Norman Lees
Personal information
Full name Norman Lees[1]
Date of birth (1948-11-17)17 November 1948[1]
Place of birth Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Position(s) Mid fielder
Youth career
– Hull City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1971 Hull City 5 (0)
1970–1971 → Hartlepool (loan) 20 (1)
1971–1977 Darlington 120 (5)
198?–198? Beograd-Woodville
Managerial career
1986 Parafield Gardens
1986–1987 Beograd-Woodville
1988–1989 Modbury
1990–1992 Cumberland United
1998–1999 White City Woodville
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Norman Lees (born 17 November 1948) is an English former footballer who made 145 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Hull City, Hartlepool and Darlington in the 1960s and 1970s.[2] He continued his career in Australia as player and coach.

Life and career

Lees was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.[1] He began his football career as an apprentice with Hull City, and made his first-team debut for the club on the last day of the 1966–67 Football League season, in a 4–1 defeat away to Crystal Palace in the Second Division. Over the next three-and-a-half years, he made just five more senior appearances for Hull,[3] and in December 1970, he joined Fourth Division club Hartlepool on loan. He scored Hartlepool's first goal in his debut match, a 2–1 win at home to York City, and played regularly for the remainder of the season, finishing with 20 appearances, all in league competition.[4]

In the 1971 close season, Lees moved on to Darlington, also a Fourth Division club. He was involved in one potentially disastrous incident while playing in a floodlit match at the Darlington's Feethams ground. While retrieving the ball, which had gone out of play, he noticed that rubbish beneath a wooden stand had caught fire. Fortunately the fire had not taken hold and was quickly extinguished.[5] Over six seasons he scored 5 goals from 120 league appearances before his contract was cancelled in 1977.[2][6]

Lees continued his football career with 15 years in Australia, first as a player and later,[5] after taking courses under the auspices both of the Australian Soccer Federation[7] and the English Football Association, as a coach. After coaching amateur team Parafield Gardens, he was appointed head coach of South Australia State League team Beograd-Woodville in December 1986,[8] but was dismissed in mid-season after the club committee disagreed with his selection policy.[9]

After his successor resigned early the following season, Lees was offered an apology and his old job back. He was by then committed to a junior coaching role at West Adelaide Hellas,[10] but a couple of months later was appointed head coach of Modbury, newly promoted to the State League.[11] Ahead of the 1990 season, he was appointed assistant to Arthur Ruttley at Port Adelaide;[12] three months later, Ruttley was sacked and Lees "resigned in protest", again over a matter of team selection.[13] Appointed head coach of Cumberland United ahead of the 1991 season,[14] Lees resigned his post in March 1992[15] and returned to England.

He remained in England for a six-year period, then resumed his coaching career in 1998 with a year as head coach of White City Woodville.[16][17] After making a final return to England, he worked for a printing firm on Tyneside.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Norman Lees". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Hull City: 1946/47–2012/13". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
    "Darlington: 1946/47–1988/89 & 1990/91–2009/10". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Players". TigerBase. Matt Wales. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Norman Lees". In The Mad Crowd. John Phillips. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Amos, Mike (2 May 2003). "Lees' Feethams farewell rekindles old fireworks". The Northern Echo. Middlesbrough. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Miscellaneous documents – Darlington: Records of Darlington Football Club: Players' contracts with the club". Darlington F.C. 1 July 1971. Ref: D/XD 97/35/42. Retrieved 21 February 2018 – via Durham County Records Office.
  7. ↑ "Rothmans National Director of Coaching Report". 21st Annual Report (PDF). Australian Soccer Federation. 1982. p. 19. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Both, Andrew (2 December 1986). "Beograd appoints Lee as coach for one year". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  9. ↑ Crisp, Allan (26 June 1987). "Beograd axes coach Lees". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  10. ↑ Crisp, Allan (31 March 1988). "Dusan quits Beograd after 6–0 rout". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  11. ↑ Crisp, Allan (19 May 1988). "Lees succeeds Gray as coach of Modbury". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  12. ↑ Klaric, Paul (19 December 1989). "untitled". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  13. ↑ "Soccer sensations: coaches axed". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 16 March 1990.
  14. ↑ Munday, Sean (3 September 1990). "Lees new coach of Foxes". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  15. ↑ Crisp, Allan (26 March 1992). "Final program under fire". The Advertiser. Adelaide.
  16. ↑ Clancy, Brett (17 November 1998). "Aloisi in charge". The Advertiser. Adelaide. p. 71 – via Newsbank.
  17. ↑ Clancy, Brett (25 November 1999). "Delnido in charge". The Advertiser. Adelaide. p. 105 – via Newsbank.
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