Lee Robert Molyneux (born 24 February 1989) is an English former profesional

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 ...

. Specifically a full back, he began his career with Everton in 2000. Having progressed through the club's

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, Molyneux made his debut for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

at the age of 16 and developed a reputation as a

set piece In film production, a set piece is a scene or sequence of scenes whose execution requires complex logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term is often also used more broadly to describe a sequence in which the film-maker's ...

specialist. He represented England at under-16, under-17 and under-18 levels. He joined

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in 2009, where he made his first-team debut and spent time on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

before being released from his

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

in the summer of 2010. He then turned out nine times for Plymouth Argyle, before leaving the club in January 2011. After a spell in prison for assault, he returned to the

English 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 Engl ...

in August 2012 when he signed with

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

. After an impressive season with Stanley, he was signed by

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in July 2013. He joined

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on loan in November 2013, and re-joined Accrington Stanley on loan in January 2014 and October 2014. He signed with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

in January 2015, and moved on to Morecambe four months later. He dropped into non-League football with Guiseley in August 2017, and spent the second half of the 2017–18 season on loan at Chorley, where he won the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy. He joined Barrow in July 2018, before signing with

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

club

Bala Town Bala Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) is a Welsh football team from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the Cymru Premier. They play their home games at Maes Tegid. History For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Al ...

12 months later.

Club career

Everton

Molyneux was born in

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, and was in the youth team at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

between the ages seven and nine, before he joined the Everton

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. He made his debut for the

at 16. He was also

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

by England at under-16, under-17 and under-18 levels. He had a good start to the 2007–08 season, featuring on the bench in five games for Everton's first-team, but suffered from a back injury which kept him out for the majority of the season. He had the option to sign a further year at Everton, but with

Leighton Baines Leighton John Baines (born 11 December 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back. He is currently U-18s manager at Everton. Baines started his career with Wigan Athletic, and was part of the team that won th ...

firmly established in the first-team he decided to look for first-team action elsewhere.

Southampton

He signed for

on a two-and-a-half-year

on 2 January 2009. He made his "Saints" debut against Barnsley on 10 January. He was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for two bookings against Swansea City on 31 January, four games into his professional career. The club were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

rom the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and he failed to establish himself in the first-team under new

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 ...

Alan Pardew. On 25 March 2010, he joined

until the end of the season, having not settled in well at Southampton. However, he never made an appearance for Vale, except in the

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from St ...

final – a tournament for the club's reserve players – and returned to the south coast in the summer.

Plymouth Argyle

In June 2010 it was announced that Southampton had agreed to end Molyneux's contract a year early, by mutual consent, with one year left on his contract. He signed a five-month contract with Plymouth Argyle on 3 August 2010, having been on trial with the club. Ironically, his first appearance for Argyle was against Southampton four days later, and he was on the winning side at St Mary's. "The whole team grafted, from the front right through to the back. It was organised," he said. "We came with a plan to keep our shape, be solid, and do the simple things right, and everything else looks after itself." On 1 January 2011, Plymouth Argyle announced his contract would not be renewed. Making a total of 12 appearances for the Devon club, he had not featured in the first-team since mid-October.

Accrington Stanley

In August 2012, Molyneux returned to professional football when he joined

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 ...

side

on non-contract terms following a successful trial. He scored his first senior goal with a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 1 December, in a 3–3 draw with

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 ...

at the

Crown Ground The Crown Ground is a multi-use stadium in Accrington, Lancashire, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Accrington Stanley. Opened in 1968, the stadium has a capacity of 5,450. The ground is curren ...

. He went on to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 16 March, giving Stanley a 3–2 home victory over

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

. He ended the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

campaign with nine goals in 43 games, and after being converted into a winger following the arrival of Laurence Wilson was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' as being "League Two's Gareth Bale". He was named as the club's Player of the Year for 2012–13.

Crewe Alexandra

Molyneux signed with

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

on a two-year contract in July 2013. He lost his first-team place in October, and the next month he joined Keith Hill's League Two club

on loan. He made only three substitute appearance for the "Dale" during his time at

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The Rochdale ward name is Spotland and Falinge. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 10,805. It lies on the River Spodden, and is the home of Spotland Stadium ...

. On 23 January 2014, Molyneux re-joined

on an initial one-month loan. Speaking of his loan move, Molyneux stated that "It feels like coming home". On 24 February 2014, Molyneux signed a loan extension for the maximum of 93 days on an emergency-loan deal. On 8 March, he scored a first-half hat-trick in a 3–1 win over league leaders

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 ...

at the

, earning himself a place on the Football League team of the week. He expected to leave Crewe in summer 2014, but remained after manager

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

told him he had a part to play at the club in the 2014–15 season; he began the season in the first-team but again soon fell out of favour. He returned to Accrington on loan in October 2014, saying that "It seems like I have never been away... I know there is a new manager ( John Coleman) now but it just has the same feel around the place. It's so familiar and I am buzzing." His contract at Crewe was terminated by mutual consent in January 2015.

Tranmere Rovers

In January 2015, Molyneux signed a contract with

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a nineteen-year professional career in the English ...

's League Two side

on a contract lasting until the end of the 2014–15 season. He played 11 games as Rovers were relegated out of the

Morecambe

In May 2015, Molyneux remained in League Two by signing a two-year contract with Morecambe following manager

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He is currently manager of EFL League Two club Rochdale. Career Bentley, who debuted for Telford United in 199 ...

's unsuccessful attempt to sign him four months earlier. He made 40 appearances in the 2015–16 campaign, and scored five goals in 48 matches in the 2016–17 season. Despite these statistics he was released in June 2017, after Bentley admitted he made a "difficult decision because he is a player who we all really like".

Later career

Molyneux signed a contract of undisclosed length with

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 ...

side

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in th ...

on 1 August 2017. On 8 February 2018, having gone two months without a game for the "Lions", he joined

National League 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 Syst ...

side Chorley on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season. Chorley won the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy with a 3–2 victory over

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

. Matt Jansen's "Magpies" went on to qualify for the play-offs with a sixth-place finish in the National League North, but were eliminated by

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

at the semi-final stage in a game where Molyneux was sent off on the cusp of

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

for a high challenge on Ryan Fallowfield. Back at

Nethermoor Park Nethermoor Park is a football stadium in Guiseley, West Yorkshire and the home ground of Guiseley A.F.C. Opened in 1909, the stadium has a capacity of 4,000. Following the club's promotion to the National division of the National League in 20 ...

, Guiseley had been relegated after finishing in last place in the National League. In July 2018, he joined National League side Barrow. He featured 17 times for

Ian Evatt Ian Ross Evatt (born 19 November 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Bolton Wanderers. Evatt began his career as a central midfielder, but was later converted to a central defende ...

's "Bluebirds" during the 2018–19 season, making just 11 starts, and was released in May 2019. On 6 July 2019, he joined

club

and was assigned the "Lakesiders" number seven shirt. As the club were semi-professional, he set up his own personal training business and become a strength and conditioning

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. Speaking in March 2020, he said the team were "hungry" to get back playing after the league was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Wales The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Wales on 28 February 2020, with a case being reported in the Swansea area; this first known case was a person who had recently returned from Italy. The first known case of community transm ...

International career

He won 26

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for England at youth level, including 11 for the under-16 side.

Personal life

In January 2011, Molyneux was sentenced to three years imprisonment for a violent assault committed while binge drinking; he served 17 months.

Career statistics

Honours

Chorley * Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy: 2018 Individual *

Accrington Stanley F.C. Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

Player of the Year for

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

References

External links

* (Southampton stats not included) * (Southampton stats)
Lee Molyneux England stats
at

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molyneux, Lee 1989 births Living people Footballers from Huyton English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Wrexham A.F.C. players Everton F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Chorley F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Bala Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Cymru Premier players English prisoners and detainees English people convicted of assault