Jason Benedict Lee (born 9 May 1971) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player. Lee played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, most notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

where he featured over three seasons, one of which saw him play in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He also had a brief spell in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

with

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

, but played the bulk of his professional career in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

, Lincoln City,

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. He later had spells in non-league football with

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

, Ilkeston Town and Arnold Town In 2011 he returned to Boston United and was appointed as manager initially alongside

Lee Canoville Leroy Paul Canoville (born 14 March 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player he was a defender who began his career with Premier League side Arsenal, he went on to play in the Football League for Nort ...

, although he later took up the role on a sole basis before being dismissed in 2012.

Playing career

Lee began his career at

but having failed to establish himself in the side moved to Lincoln City in 1991 before later moving to

. He moved to

in 1994. Initially, Lee failed to crack his way into Forest's first team. However, the departure of

Stan Collymore Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player who played as a striker from 1990 to 2001, most notably for Nottingham Forest and later Liverpool, who he joined from the form ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

saw him feature for the first team. In the 1995–96 season he scored eight league goals in 28 games. Jason Lee 25-10-2008 1

Following two loan spells, back at his first club Charlton and at

, Lee was transferred to Watford in 1997 for £200,000 – the same fee paid by Forest three years earlier – and played in their 1997–98

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship-winning side, scoring ten goals. However, Lee's refusal to uproot his family from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

caused tension with manager

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

, who sold him to

early in the 1998–99 season for £250,000. After that, he played for

(2000–2003),

(2003–2004),

(2004–2006). In January 2006, Lee joined

on a free transfer. He was part of the Northampton side that won promotion from

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, appearing 11 times for the Cobblers and scoring one goal against Notts County. However, he was released at the end of the season and subsequently joined

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

. His stay at the Shots was a brief one, and in June 2006 he moved to

, and was team captain for the 2007–08 season. It was announced on BBC East Midlands Today, during a feature presented by the player, that he would not be retained by the club for the 2008–09 campaign. Following his release from the Magpies, signed for

on 1 August 2008. Lee signed for Kettering Town on 13 January 2009, for the remainder of the 2008–09 season from Mansfield Town. Lee scored once in six league games for Kettering, his strike coming in a 2–1 loss to Stevenage on 27 January 2009. He moved on to

, making his début in a 3–3 draw against

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

on 21 March 2009. He joined Ilkeston Town of the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

on 1 April 2010, scoring on his début in a 2–1 victory over

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...

. After a long and wide-ranging career Lee announced his retirement from football in November 2010 following the death of his mother. Lee came out of retirement in March 2011 when he joined Arnold Town, debuting in the club's

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History Th ...

1–0 defeat at Hallam on 8 March 2011. The same week he was announced as the Matchday VIP Host for former club Lincoln City, a role which would limit his availability for Arnold. His second, and final, league appearance for the club saw him sent-off for two yellow cards, the second for the use of the elbow, in the 4–2 defeat to

Pickering Town Pickering Town Football Club is an English football club based in Pickering, North Yorkshire. The club was founded in 1888 and are currently members of the . History Pickering Town Football Club were first established in 1888, for many yea ...

on 19 March 2011.

Managerial career

On 22 March 2011, Lee, along with

was confirmed as caretaker coach of

following the resignation of joint first team managers Rob Scott and

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, ba ...

. Lee re-registered himself as a player towards the end of the 2010–11 season. He made three appearances, including the final of the

Lincolnshire Senior Shield The Lincolnshire Senior Shield is a County Cup competition for teams in Lincolnshire who are in steps 2-4 of the non league pyramid. The current champions are Stamford who won it for the fourth time this year. Stamford are the most successful t ...

and one Conference North playoff-game. Jason Lee was sacked as manager in December 2012 after a run of poor results in the 2012/13 season leaving the Pilgrims in 10th place.

Football administration

In 2013 Lee became the Equalities Education Executive for the Professional Footballers Association (PFA).

In popular culture

Lee was frequently mocked by comedians

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

and

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has al ...

in the 1990s football comedy TV show ''

Fantasy Football League ''Fantasy Football League'' is a British television comedy programme hosted by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. It was inspired by the Fantasy Football phenomenon which started in the early 1990s and followed on from a BBC Radio 5 programme ho ...

''. In a series of sketches, Lee was lampooned for his perceived poor footballing ability and his distinctive hairstyle, described as resembling a "pineapple". When asked what he made of Baddiel performing in blackface, Lee said: "I'd ask them if they realised the significance of what they were doing. It was, looking back, a form of bullying. I work in equalities now, and it can affect different people in different ways. I don't think people appreciate the possible harm it can cause. Not everyone has the make-up to deal with that, and they shouldn't have to." In a 2022 interview, Skinner said their behaviour had been unacceptable: "Looking back, it was a bullying campaign. And it's awful. And yeah, I'm ashamed of it ... It wouldn't be too much to say we're both deeply ashamed."

References

External links

*
Profile
a
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United DatabaseThe Life and Times of Jason LeeInterview with Jason for the blog The Ball is Round
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jason 1971 births Living people Footballers from Forest Gate English footballers Association football forwards Charlton Athletic F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Watford F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Corby Town F.C. players Arnold Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Boston United F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Black British sportsmen