Arran Lee-Barrett (born 28 February 1984) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He made his senior debut for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in 2004. After two years at Cardiff he signed for Weymouth where he spent another two years before joining

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

in 2007. He did not make an appearance for Coventry, joining

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

following the end of his short term contract. He spent two seasons at Hartlepool before joining

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in 2009. He spent four years at Ipswich. Following his release from Ipswich he had short spells at Millwall at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

during the 2013–14 season.

Club career

Early career

When he was 10, Lee-Barrett joined his local club Whitton Sports Centre and took the position of goalkeeper. Shortly after he was offered a place at

's academy where he played alongside later-England international

Darren Bent Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Championship for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team. ...

. After leaving Ipswich he was offered an apprenticeship at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, he chose Norwich as he preferred the atmosphere there. However, he failed to break into the reserve team and was second choice reserve keeper behind future

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international Robert Green. In February 2003, Lee-Barrett joined Chelmsford City on loan, making two appearances, one in the league and one in the Southern League Cup. He was released by Norwich at the end of the 2002–03 season and had a trial at Chelsea.

Cardiff City

He was offered a one-year contract with Cardiff after impressing during a trial and was coached by George Wood. He spent most of his time at Cardiff as third choice keeper, mainly playing for the reserves. While playing for the reserves Lee-Barrett helped Cardiff win the Pontins Holiday Combination. Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence decided to release the young keeper believing that he was better off getting games.

Weymouth

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

all showed an interest in Lee-Barrett. Although he trained with Torquay, he moved to Weymouth due to the offer of first team football. He made 19 league appearances and 2 appearances in the FA Cup, helping Weymouth to win the Nationwide Conference South.

Coventry City

In January 2007, Lee-Barrett signed for

on loan as emergency cover for Luke Steele due to the injury of other Coventry keeper Andy Marshall. After his loan spell he signed permanently after being offered a temporary contract. However at the end of the season he was not offered a new contract and was released after failing to break into the first team. After releasing Lee-Barrett, Coventry City manager Iain Dowie revealed that he was impressed with his "attitude and professionalism" and wished him all the best.

Hartlepool United

Shortly after Lee-Barrett was signed by Hartlepool after being recommended by Hartlepool's goalkeeping coach George Wood who had previously coached him at Cardiff. For his first season at Hartlepool he was given the number 21 shirt. On his debut Lee-Barrett performed well against Newcastle, making some impressive saves and keeping a clean sheet in the half that he played. After playing Harlepool's first game of the season, a 2–1 loss to Luton Town, he was dropped, with Danny Wilson picking

Jan Budtz Jan Helstrup Budtz (born 20 April 1979) is a Danish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He works as the head of operations for League One side Doncaster Rovers, as well as playing semi-professionally for Rossington Main. He has previously pla ...

over him for the Pools next fixtures. He was released from his contract on 6 May 2009 after being deemed surplus to requirements.

Ipswich Town

On 21 August 2009, it was announced that Lee-Barrett had signed for the Championship team

, on a short-term deal. This came a day after

Shane Supple Shane Supple (born 4 May 1987) is an Irish coach and former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. In 2015, he made a return to competitive football, after initially retiring in 2009, by ...

had retired from the game aged 22. Lee-Barrett covered first-choice goalkeeper Richard Wright and was included in the squad that travelled to West Brom the next day. He made his debut for Ipswich on 29 November against

, coming off the bench in the 25th minute for the injured Richard Wright. Ipswich won the game 2–1. Following that game, Ipswich enquired into the possibility of bringing in a keeper on loan to replace Wright, despite the loan window not being open. This request was denied, leaving Lee-Barrett and Ian McLoughlin, the youth team goalkeeper, as the only two goalkeepers on professional contracts at the club. Ipswich's next game was away at Bristol City where Lee-Barrett kept a clean sheet. In January 2010, Lee-Barrett was rewarded with a new 18-month contract at Ipswich. He was offered a further contract extension in April 2011.

Millwall

On 16 August 2013, he made the move to Millwall covering for

Stephen Bywater Stephen Michael Bywater (born 7 June 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He has made appearances for thirteen clubs, most notably for Derby County, where he made over 150 appearances and won the 200 ...

and Andy Marshall after David Forde had picked up an injury. He did not make a first team appearance whilst with the Lions but did act as an unused substitute for

Steve Lomas Stephen Martin Lomas (born 18 January 1974) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, Lomas was a midfielder from 1991 to 2010. He had spells in the Premier League for both Manchester City and West Ha ...

' team.

Bolton Wanderers

On 24 October 2013, he signed a short-term contract with

to provide competition for

Andy Lonergan Andrew Michael Lonergan (born 19 October 1983) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton. Lonergan is a former England ...

after both

Ádám Bogdán Ádám Bogdán (; born 27 September 1987) is a Hungarian professional footballer, who plays as a goalkeeper for Hungarian club Ferencváros. Bogdán began his career in Hungary at Vasas before spending time on loan at Vecsés. In 2007, he m ...

and

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

had been ruled out of action with knee and back injuries respectively. He linked up again with his former manager Lennie Lawrence, an assistant manager to

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

at Bolton. He later signed a contract extension until the end of the season. Following the conclusion of the season, Bolton Wanderers offered Lee-Barrett a new one-year deal but on 1 July, Bolton confirmed that he had left the club.

International career

While at Weymouth Lee-Barrett was selected for the England National Game team, which consisted of England's best non-league players and made his debut for them against the Netherlands in November 2006.

Personal life

Since retiring from professional football Lee-Barrett resides in Suffolk with his wife and two children. Lee-Barrett is the cousin of Liam Barrett who also played in Ipswich Town's youth team and who now runs U.S Sports Scholarships, a company that helps place student-athletes at American universities.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee-Barrett, Arran 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Ipswich English footballers England semi-pro international footballers Association football goalkeepers Ipswich Town F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players