Lee Wilkie (born 20 April 1980) is a Scottish 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 played as a

central defender 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 ...

. Wilkie spent the majority of his career in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, playing for both

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

. Wilkie started his career with Dundee, making over 100 appearances 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' ...

. He won 11

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international caps between 2002 and 2003, during the tenure of

Berti Vogts Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup wi ...

. Soon after this he suffered from a series of knee injuries, which led to Wilkie being released by Dundee in August 2006. Wilkie then signed for Dundee United and he again played regularly for a while, but ongoing knee problems forced his retirement from professional football in April 2010.

Playing career

Wilkie had been with city rivals

for his entire professional career, having ended his contract with them in August 2006. During his time at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

, he had short loan spells in England with

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and

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 ...

, plus nine games 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 ...

. Wilkie suffered serious

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

injuries in January 2004 (ironically, against United) and in April 2005, which left him without the ligament. Unable to receive an operation, he hoped to continue playing professional football by strengthening the knee muscles to compensate for the lack of ligament. Despite interest from other clubs, Wilkie announced his intention to give first option on a contract to the team he has supported all his life, Dundee United. In October 2006, it was announced that Dundee United would offer Wilkie a 'pay as you play' contract, with Wilkie's signing confirmed on 10 October 2006. In early-November 2006, new manager Craig Levein stated his intention to send Wilkie out on loan for "about a month", feeling he was "not ready to play first-team matches at this PLlevel." Subsequently, in December 2006, Lee joined Scottish First Division side Ross County on a one-month loan deal. Following his spell at Ross County, Wilkie returned to Dundee United and played in a 1–0 defeat to

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

at Rugby Park on 20 January 2007. After the match, Wilkie cast doubt on his future at Tannadice by expressing doubts over his ability to play in the SPL due to his ongoing injury and fitness issues, and stated he will review his situation in the near future. Wilkie, like defensive colleagues

David McCracken David McCracken (born 16 October 1981) is a Scottish football player and coach, whose last role was as co-manager of Falkirk between 2019 and 2021. McCracken, who played as a central defender, was a Scotland under-21 internationalist, having ma ...

and

Lee Mair Lee Mair (born 9 December 1980) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender. Mair played for Dundee F.C., Dundee, Aberdeen F.C., Aberdeen, St Mirren F.C., S ...

, was to be out of contract at the end of 2006–07, but signed a two-year deal in March 2007 to take him to summer 2009. On 1 February 2008, following

Barry Robson Barry Gordon George Robson (born 7 November 1978) is a Scottish football coach and former player who currently works for Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership. Robson played as a midfielder for several clubs in Scotland, England and Canada and r ...

's move to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, Wilkie was named captain; six weeks later, he led the team out at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

for the 2008 Scottish League Cup Final, where he was one of three players to miss a penalty in the defeat to Rangers. In January 2009 Wilkie signed a new three-year contract until May 2012 but announced his retirement on 3 April 2010 due to ongoing knee problems.

International career

Prior to his injury problems, Wilkie was a regular in the Scottish national team. He was given his international debut by

, in a Reunification Cup match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in May 2002. His only international goal secured a 2–1 victory over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

at Hampden in March 2003. Wilkie's last international appearance was an unhappy experience, as the Scots suffered a 6–0 defeat against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in November 2003 that ended their hopes of reaching

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

. Wilkie was offered a return to international football in November 2007 through the Scotland B team, but he declined selection because he needed more games to be ready to compete at international level. After playing regularly for the whole of season 2007–08 and completing pre-season training for 2008–09 without any serious injury problems, Wilkie said he wanted to be selected. A recall never came, however, leaving him with a total of 11

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 Java ...

Management career

After retiring from his playing career, Wilkie joined Premier Sports Management as a client manager. He became assistant manager of Montrose in the summer of 2012 but left the following May because of family and other work commitments.

Career stats

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''SFA profile
/ref>

Honours

Dundee

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2002–03

Dundee United

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

Runner-up: 1 :: 2007–08 *

Player of the Month: 1 :: October 2007

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkie, Lee 1980 births Living people Footballers from Dundee Scottish footballers Association football central defenders Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Dundee F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scotland B international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers People educated at Harris Academy Ross County F.C. players Lochee United F.C. players