Lee Turnbull (born 27 September 1967) 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 could play in either midfield or attack. He is currently chief operating officer and acting chairman at Scunthorpe United.

Playing career

Turnbull started his career as an apprentice in 1984 with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

before signing professional forms in 1985. He played a part in the club's comeback from liquidation in 1986, making his debut in a cup game away at Hull in November 1985 before a league debut off the bench against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

and a league start away to

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 ...

, but witnessed the club's relegation from the Championship. Turnbull made 21 appearances in league and cup in total for The Boro, scoring five goals, in the promotion winning season 1986–87. He left Middlesbrough in 1987, joining

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

for a £50,000 fee. He was one of

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 ...

's first signings. He left Villa without any appearances to his name, featuring only once on the bench against

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 ...

, and went on to play for various lower league teams. During his spell at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, he made 150 league and cup appearances. He scored two hat-tricks for Rovers, including a hat-trick of headers against Aldershot in a 3–0 win. He went on to play for

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 ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

before joining Scunthorpe United, initially on loan from Wycombe in 1994. He was club captain at Scunthorpe. He ended his professional career at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. His moves represented combined transfer fees of over £100,000 in a career of around 400 appearances and 70 goals in league and cup.

Football management and other roles

Turnbull retired from full-time professional football through injury at Darlington, joining Halifax then

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

as player coach during 1998–99.

Barrow

Turnbull joined Barrow as assistant manager in 1999 and took over from

Kenny Lowe Kenny Lowe (born 6 November 1961) is an English association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Australian side Perth RedStar. Kenny played for ten clubs in England, and had a stint in Australia also. He later mana ...

as manager in April 2003. The club achieved second and third-place finishes during his time at the club, as well as three cup final victories. Players such as

Grant Holt Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently a scout at West Ham United. During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appeara ...

and

Glenn Murray Glenn Murray (born 25 September 1983) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football pundit who played as a Forward (association football), striker. His career spanned 19 years from 2002 until 2021. Best known ...

played for Barrow whilst Turnbull was at Holker Street. He was sacked in November 2005 after six and a half years at the club.

Short-term appointments

He went on to work as assistant manager at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, where he helped secure Conference status alongside manager Liam Watson, as head of recruitment and scouting at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, and, for three months in 2016, was head of recruitment at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

Scunthorpe United

Turnbull served as former club Scunthorpe United's head of community for 17 years from 1998. He was the club's chief scout between 2006 and 2011, and again between 2014 and 2015. He rejoined the club as head of recruitment in September 2016. Turnbull identified and helped recruit several players for Scunthorpe who went on to be sold for seven-figure sums. These include

Gary Hooper Gary Hooper (born 26 January 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Cypriot club Omonia. Hooper started his career at League Grays Athletic in 2003. While there he won the 2004–05 Conference South, as well ...

(£2.4 million),

Billy Sharp Billy Louis Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker and captains club Sheffield United. He has also played for Rushden & Diamonds, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Readin ...

(£2 million) and

Martin Paterson Martin Andrew Paterson (born 10 May 1987) is a former professional footballer and assistant head coach of club Barnsley. Born in Stoke-on-Trent, he played as a forward he began his career with Stoke City, making his senior debut in April 20 ...

(£1 million). He left the club in June 2020.

Short-term appointments

In November 2020, Turnbull joined

in an advisory role. In December 2020 it was announced that Turnbull had begun working for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

as recruitment director. He left the club in September 2021, and in December 2021, joined

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

in a consulting capacity to lead the scouting and recruitment of the club.

Return to Scunthorpe United

With the Iron bottom of League Two, ten points from safety, Turnbull returned to Scunthorpe, as chief operating officer, in March 2022, when

Peter Swann Peter Swann (born 29 October 1965) is United Kingdom, British businessman and the former chairman of football clubs Gainsborough Trinity F.C., Gainsborough Trinity and Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United, having taken over at the latter f ...

stood down as the club's chairman.

References

External links

Lee Turnbull
profile at Scunthorpe United {{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, Lee 1967 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees Footballers from County Durham English footballers English football managers Association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff Barrow A.F.C. managers Southport F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield United F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff Scunthorpe United F.C. non-playing staff Chesterfield F.C. non-playing staff Bradford City A.F.C. non-playing staff Hartlepool United F.C. non-playing staff