Lee Robert Jenkins (born 17 March 1961) is an English 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 lea ...

who played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

and

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. The team compete in the ...

, and also played in Finland for

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

and

FinnPa Finnairin Palloilijat, or FinnPa as the club is more commonly known as, was a Finnish association football club established in 1965. The club was based in Helsinki and it operated from 1965 to 1998. FinnPa was founded by staff of the Finnish natio ...

Career

Jenkins was born in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. He was capped three times by the

England Youth England national under-18 football team, also known as England under-18s or England U18(s), represents England in association football at under-18 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England ...

team in 1978. A midfield player, he began his football career as an apprentice with

in June 1977. The following year, he was part of the Villa side that reached the final of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

. In January 1979, he signed his first full professional

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

and was

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 e ...

for England at youth level. Jenkins made three substitute appearances in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

before joining

in November 1980. His only appearance was on

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

1980 in a 1–0 home defeat by Lincoln City. Given a free transfer in April 1981, he moved to Finland where he played for

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

in the

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that (1908-1929) ...

(top division). Jenkins returned to England, signing for

in October 1985. He broke his ankle on his Birmingham debut, and the following April, with the club in financial difficulties, he was given a free transfer. He then returned to Finland where he played for

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Lee 1961 births Living people Footballers from West Bromwich English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Rovaniemen Palloseura players Birmingham City F.C. players FinnPa players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen