Lee Michael Bradbury (born 3 July 1975) is an English football manager and former

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 is currently manager of

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

. As a player, he was a striker who made more than 500 appearances 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 notable spells at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. He also had spells with

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

and

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 ...

. After retiring as a player, he spent 14 months as

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 ...

. After a seven-year spell as manager of

club

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

, he took charge of

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side Eastbourne Borough in May 2019, but left in October 2019 and became assistant head coach at

EFL 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 ...

club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

Playing career

When he was an army recruit, Bradbury played part-time when on leave for Halstead Town under 18 side, and during the 1994–95 season Cowes Sports. Prior to this Bradbury had been a young player at local island side Plessey Sports FC, also based in his hometown of Cowes, Isle of Wight, playing alongside his father Michael. Bradbury also played for Northern Irish side Fivemiletown United while stationed in Northern Ireland with the army. Bradbury started his professional career at

, where he played for three years. A number of impressive performances in the 1996–97 season resulted in interest from a number of clubs, and in July 1997 he was purchased by

manager Frank Clark for a club record £3 million. However, Bradbury struggled to make an impact at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

, and at the end of the 1997–98 season City were relegated, with Bradbury having scored just six goals. Three months into the following season Bradbury moved to

for £1.5 million. Less than a year later Bradbury was on the move again, returning to Portsmouth for £300,000. Bradbury's career started to recover at Pompey, making more than 100 appearances in his second spell at the club. However, in the 2002–03 season Bradbury lost his first team place and was loaned out to

. He returned from his loan spell to contribute three appearances and one goal (ironically against Sheffield Wednesday) to Portsmouth's title run-in as they won the First Division title and promotion to 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 ...

. The following season he was loaned to

before being sold to

in March 2004 (where he scored once against former club Derby). At the end of the 2004–05 season Bradbury was playing for

. Bradbury signed a four-month contract with

on 31 January 2006. He subsequently signed a longer contract. In August 2007, Bradbury signed for

on a four-month loan deal. After playing one game for the club the loan was made permanent, and Bradbury signed a contract until the end of the season. In the later stages of Bradbury's career, he played in a much different role, being converted into a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Bournemouth during an injury crisis he became the first choice right back for the south coast club, but with the arrival of defender

Stephen Purches Stephen Robert Purches (born 14 January 1980 in Ilford, England) is an English retired footballer who played mostly for AFC Bournemouth over two spells. He also made over 100 appearances for Leyton Orient. When he retired from football he becam ...

, who returned after three seasons away from Bournemouth, Bradbury went back to his former role of striker whilst attacking options were limited.

Management career

AFC Bournemouth

On 15 January 2011, Bradbury was appointed as caretaker manager after the departure of

Eddie Howe Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the head coach of Premier League club Newcastle United. A defender during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. The next day, he announced his retirement from playing, and on 28 January, was given a two-and-a-half-year deal as permanent manager of the club. In January 2012, Bradbury signed an improved three-and-a-half-year contract to manage the League One club, keeping him at Bournemouth until the summer of 2015. During his first season at the helm, Bradbury steered the Cherries into the League One Play-offs, eventually losing to Huddersfield on penalties. On 25 March, during his second season, Bradbury was dismissed from Bournemouth following the club's run of poor form.

Havant & Waterlooville

Bradbury was appointed manager of

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

club

on 9 October 2012. At the time, Bradbury was coaching the Under-14s at Portsmouth's Academy set up In his first game as manager, his side won 2–1 against

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

on 13 October 2012. Following

Michael Appleton Michael Antony Appleton (born 4 December 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Blackpool. As a player, he operated as a midfielder, in a nine-year career that began in 1994 and e ...

's departure to become manager at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, Bradbury was linked with a return to Portsmouth, however

Guy Whittingham Guy Whittingham (born 10 November 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker from 1988 until 2005, notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Having start ...

was appointed instead. On 30 April 2016, Havant & Waterlooville's relegation from the National League South was confirmed. A whole season in The Isthmian league followed (Havant and Waterlooville being favourites to get promoted), and promotion was achieved on the last day of the season on 22 April 2017. Bradbury earned the 'Manager of the year' award for winning the league. Hawks played the 2017–18 season back in the National League South and won it at the first attempt, gaining promotion to the National League Premier Division.

Eastbourne Borough and Crawley Town

Bradbury moved to Eastbourne Borough in May 2019, and managed the

club until October of that year. In December 2019 he was appointed assistant head coach of Crawley Town in League Two, alongside newly appointed head coach

John Yems John Yems (born 28 August 1959) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently manager of Crawley Town F.C., Crawley Town. Playing career As a player, Yems was a member of the reserve teams of Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal P ...

Eastleigh

On 28 February 2022, Bradbury was appointed manager of

club

Personal life

Bradbury spent time in the army before entering the world of football. His son

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

is also a footballer.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
AFC Bournemouth profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradbury, Lee 1975 births Living people People from Cowes Men's association football forwards English footballers Fivemiletown United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players English Football League players English football managers AFC Bournemouth managers Havant & Waterlooville F.C. managers Eastbourne Borough F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers Crawley Town F.C. non-playing staff Eastleigh F.C. players