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James

by James
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Guest HTT II

Guest HTT II

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, leffe186 said:

Holy shit, Joey Beauchamp died. Was in Oxford while he was coming up. Great player but just seemed to be uncomfortable leaving home. Shocking death. RIP.

No way, so sad, we were linked with him under KK first time around. RIP :weep:

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jack j

jack j

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8 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Seems Steve Black has passed away going by Joey Barton’s Tweet. RIP. :(
 

 

 

 

 

 

No way. Helped some of the best sportsmen ever up here didn't he. Wilkinson, Harmison Shearer? RIP

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Pokerprince2004

Pokerprince2004

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J

21 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Gordon Lee has died. I think only my dad rated him in his time here. R.I.P.

 

Funny enough both Gibbo and Supermac were both talking about him just last Wednesday on the Steve Wraith youtube show. Both hated him like especially Malcolm who regularly brings up stories of how horrible he was, obviously 2 sides to every story but he definitely didn't like Supermac for some reason 

 

 

Edited by Pokerprince2004

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LFEE

LFEE

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3 minutes ago, Pokerprince2004 said:

J

 

Funny enough both Gibbo and Supermac were both talking about him just last Wednesday on the Steve Wraith youtube show. Both hated him like especially Malcolm who regularly brings up stories of how horrible he was, obviously 2 sides to every story but he definitely didn't like Supermac for some reason 

 

 

 

My dad always told me that he made us less of a soft touch and got us results that you’d expect against teams around and below us and stopped big defeats, so guessing a bit like Rafa.

 

He also told Supermac that Gowling would score more goals than him which he did. Supermac used to love to make his mouth off at the press so wouldn’t be surprised if he was as cosy with Gibbo back then as he was now.

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Cclay

Cclay

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1 hour ago, LFEE said:

Gordon Lee has died. I think only my dad rated him in his time here. R.I.P.

I was young then and quite liked the sound of 'Gordon Lee's black and white army'. It tended to run off the tongue better than the other names associated with the same chant and I, surprisingly, sometimes still say it under my breath at random times. Everything else about that period ... hmmm. Sad news, though.

 

 

Edited by Cclay

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ED072935-7713-48DE-92A3-833C178AE622.thumb.png.358e89f016c1845ee3314913967461f3.png

 

 

THE GLEE CLUB?

 

The article "Domestic Distress" revealed that in terms of results achieved Gordon Lee is one of the most succesful managers in the club's history.

 

In his first season at the club (1975/76) he guided them to the League Cup Final and the Sixth Round of the FA Cup; and in the following season he guided them into the top six of the first division; the first time the club had reached such heady heights since the 1950's.

 

Yet he is also one of the most unpopular managers to sit in the St. James' hot seat. Why? Because he sold the star players and replaced them with also-rans, he encouraged negative football and he walked out on the club when he was offered better money by the Toffeemen.

 

In this article we re-evaluate his contribution to the club and offer a startling explanation of the methods behind his apparent madness.

 

SUCCESSFUL LEE?

 

There can be no doubt that Lee's managerial career was comparatively successful.

 

His first managerial post was with Port Vale whom he guided to the Third Division in his second season in charge. He spent another 4 seasons in the Midlands but never managed to take the team any higher. 

 

At Port Vale money was very scarce and Lee had to rely on free-transfers and homegrown talent, but as he proudly stated; "I have players who would literally dive through a brick wall for Port Vale.”

 

In January 1974 he took over from Ken Furphy at Blackburn and guided them to the Third Division championship in the following season. The United board were sufficiently impressed to ask him to take over from Joe Harvey. The Blackburn board were less impressed and reported United for making an illegal approach; it was to be the start of a long running feud with the Lancastrians.

 

In his first season on the Toon (1975/76) he steered United to a League Cup Final and the 6th round of the FA Cup and if the club had not been struck with a plague of injury and illness of almost biblical proportions they might have done even better. The League campaign was more disappointing as the team ended 15th (the same position as the last season under Harvey). 

 

The sale of Supermac provided the prelude to the following season and the bookies immediately made United favourites for relegation. But after a shaky start the team closed ranks and steadily climbed the table until they reached the dizzy heights of third by the end of November.There were some notable performances including a 1-0 home win over leaders Liverpool and a 2-2 draw at Leeds after which Lee claimed "we showed Leeds how to play football." 

 

In January 1977 Lee resigned to take over at Everton and steered them away from the relegation zone and took them through to the League Cup Final and the FA Cup semi-finals The next seasons saw Everton finishing in third and fourth place respectively, but in 1979-1980 season things turned sour and - after months of speculation and a place just above the relegation positions - he was sacked.

 

Lee had further spells as manager of Preston (12/1981 - 12/1983) and Leicester (1/91 - 5/91), but his time had gone and further success eluded him

 

WHATEVER IT TAKES

 

Lee was from the Alan Durban (if you want entertainment go to a circus) school of management. Even in his first job at Port Vale the "negative" tactics he employed often came in for criticism, but he never apologised for playing "the style that gets results"

 

In 1973 West Ham manager Ron Greenwood accused Port Vale of "diabolical intimidation" in a a cup tie "For the first time in my life, I could relate violence on the field to violence on the terraces. People can say we were lucky. I agree Iucky to come away alive". Lee's response was 'I can only treat the remarks with the contempt they deserve'.

 

When Lee took over at United he derided Newcastle's "crash bang wallop" style of play; believing that to achieve success you needed to play "controlled" posession football. Despite this his first season at United had goals galore and thrills aplenty (indeed United scored more goals than any club in the country). It wasn't until the following season that Lee managed to stamp his personal "style" on the team.

 

The southern press derided Lee's team as "dull and workmanlike" and even some of the local pressmen were critical of the style of play. The fans too were openly critical of the team's new tactics (at least when they did not work). There was no doubt that on their day with their best players available United's were a match for the best in the land, but when players were missing or simply off-form they no longer had any players with the individual brilliance to turn a game.

 

PURGE OF THE INFIDELS

 

Immediately on joining Lee made it clear what sort of player he wanted at the club. "I have to make sure everybody in the team is working for everybody else. Anyone not prepared to work is out!".

 

So one by one he set about purging the side of the players he considered were not contributing to his team ethic. In reality the players that were moved on represented the "old guard". With the exception of Keeley they were all players who had been at the club a number of years; and nearly all were first-teamers

 

TERRY HIBBITT - £100,000 TO BIRMINGHAM [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Lee pinpointed Terry Hibbitt as a "troublemaker" and he was out of the door within months of Lee's arrival. Hibbitt found out he was leaving when he finished getting changed after an away match against Derby and found his boots wrapped up in a paper bag on top of a skip. Lee having already negotiated a transfer deal with Birmingham.

 

ALEX BRUCE - PART EXCHANGE TO PRESTON [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Bruce had been signed from Preston a couple of years earlier but had failed to break into the side and he was used as a makeweight in the deal that brought John Bird to Tyneside.

 

GLEN KEELEY - £30,000 TO BLACKBURN [AUGUST 1976]

Keeley was a promising young 21 year old who had established himself in Joe Harvey's last year in charge, but he was rarely given a chance by Lee. He went on to have a notable career at Ewood Park where he played for 11 seasons (many as captain).

 

PAT HOWARD - £50,000 TO ARSENAL [SEPTEMBER 1976]

Centre-back Howard had made more than 250 appearances for the club and was still only 28 when he was sold. United turned down bids from Nottm Forest and Southampton before finally selling him to the Gunners.

 

JOHN TUDOR - £30,000 TO STOKE [OCTOBER 1976]

Supermac's old strike-partner Tudor was the last of the "old-guard" to be sold. A succession of injuries and the arrival of Gowling limited Tudor to 7(1) appearances during Lee's reign.

 

MALCOLM MACDONALD - £333,333 TO ARSENAL [JULY 1976]

The sale of Supermac was of course the one that really took the headlines. In reality it had been on the cards since Lee first wandered through the gates at SJP, but it was still a monumental shock when he left.

 

MAC AND LEE

 

As soon as Lee arrived at the club he made his feelings clear regarding footballing superstars. "Stars are something you see in the sky at night; they're for astrologers" was Lee's oft repeated refrain. "It's like another word people like to use these days, 'flair',. When I hear that word I think of something you light a fire with or the bottom of someone's trousers."
 

Newcastle only had one true star at the time, Supermac 

In his many autobiographies Macdonald relates why he could not work with Lee. He tells of their first meeting when Lee asked him about Hibbitt the "trouble maker". He talks about the new "joke" training sessions that reminded him of PE lessons he had a school with a female sports mistress. He reveals how angry he was with the way Lee treated his mate Terry Hibbitt. And he also talks about numerous verbal altercations that the pair had. Further, as far as Macdonald was concerned Lee was "jealous" of the relationship Macdonald had with the Newcastle public.

 

Publicly though the pair were putting on a United front. I an interview with Shoot magazine in August 1975 Macdonald stated that in training "the air has been supercharged and there is a completely new enthusiasm among the players since Mr Lee has taken over our coaching sessions." And after the home game with Leicester Lee talked in glowing terms about Macdonald.

 

But in reality their relationship went steadily downhill. Macdonald had been used to special treatment; he had a special relationship with Joe Harvey whereby he "never had to ask for a rise". Lee preferred to favour his own type of player; Gowling, Burns and Nulty forming an inner sanctum at the club. As Macdonald stated later "suddenly we had a players commitee, small meetings in locked rooms and a lot of gossip running throughout the club."

 

Lee actively encouraged other players to voice their opinions about Macdonald and this (according to Gowling) reached a crescendo on the post season tour of Malaysia in 1976.

 

Mac refused to take part in the team picture at the start of the 1976/77 season because "he wouldn't be able to raise a smile" and within days he was off to London to join Arsenal.

 

When Lee moved on to Everton he was asked if he would go back to Newcastle for any of his old players. His reply was typically forthright "If they wanted £333,000 for Macdonald, God only knows what they will want for the good players!"

 

Of course Suermac wasn't the only seventies star who failed to impress Gordon. Supermac When manager of Blackburn, Lee described Leeds United's Duncan McKenzie as a ‘piss pot player’. Not surprisingly when they met up again at Everton the player was soon moved on

 

BARGAIN-LESS BASEMENT

 

Lee's replacements were all picked up frm the Third and Fourth Divisions. Unfortunately that's where the majority of them belonged. As a consequence his successor "Richard Dinnis" was left with a paper-thin and inadequate squad of players. Disaster was just around the corner

 

ALAN GOWLING - £75,000 FROM HUDDERSFIELD [AUGUST 1975]

Twenty Six year old Gowling was rescued from the ailing Yorkshire club that now found itself in the bottom division. He was Lee's first and arguably only successful signing. When he signed him Lee controversially claimed he would outscore Supermac and to everyone's surpise he did just that in 1975/76 scoring 30 goals in 57 appearances whereas Mac managed 24 goals in 53 appearances.

However once Mac had left the goals dried up somewhat and he ended with a strike rate of only 33%. He was one of the protaganists in the "player power" of the Dinnis era and the arrival of strict disciplinarian Bill Mcgarry was him moving on to to Bolton in March 1978 with a strike rate of only 33%

 

JOHN BIRD - £100,000 FROM PRESTON [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Centre-back Bird was Preston's captain and the move resulted in their manager Bobby Charlton resigning. He had a torrid debut in a 4-0 defeat at Maine Road and faced heavy criticism from media and fans alike during his first season at the club. Dropped by Lee he was disciplined for speaking out in the press. He never fully established himself in the side, but still remained at the club for five seasons

 

ROGER JONES - £100,000 FROM BLACKBURN [MARCH 1976]

Lee went back to his old club to snap up 29 year old goalkeeper Roger Jones. he made 5 appearances during the rest of the season and appeared to be regarded by Lee as his number one. He then suffered a shoulder injury in pre-season training and United claimed that they had been advised by a specialist that the injury was so serious that he would no longer play again. Eventually he joined Stoke on a free in February 1977 and continued playing for another eight seasons A medical misjudgement or something more sinister? United used the injury as an excuse for refusing to cough up the money they owed Blackburn.

 

GRAHAM OATES - £100,000 FROM BLACKBURN [MARCH 1976]

Utility man Oates was snapped up at the same time as Jones and according to Supermac was given a wonderful build-up by Lee. Unfortunately he didn't live up to his reputation and his fate with the fans was sealed within four minutes of his home debut when he smacked a 25 yard back-pass into the roof of his own net. He struggled on (making a total of 29(10) appearances and scoring 3 goals) before joining the exodus of Football League failures in the American League.

 

MARTIN GORRY - £50,000 FROM BARNSLEY [OCTOBER 1976]

21 year old Gorry was signed as a future prospect, but ended up making only one substitute appearance for the club in 1977/78 before joining Hartlepool on a free.

 

STEVE HARDWICK - £80,000 FROM CHESTERFIELD [DECEMBER 1976]

The injury to Roger Jones led Lee to buy another 'keeper, 20 year old Steve Hardwick. Hardwick was a former England youth and amatuer international. He eventually became the first choice keeper during 1978/79 and 1979/80, but was prone to errors which earned him stick from sections of the crowd and eventually his place in the side. He joined Oxford in February 1983 after making 101 appearances.

 

PERSONAL LEE

 

Lee could not work with "stars", but he certainly gained the respect of the other more mundane players.

 

Tony Parkes (who was his assistant at Blackburn) has told of how many players were in tears when Lee resigned; some even went to his house to try and persuade him to stay.

 

At Newcastle he was very popular with the "rump" that was left. Stewart Barrowclough's said at the time "I believe there is a new spirit at the club. Before we had some fine individuals at the club, now everyone works as part of a team.”

 

But It has even been suggested in some quarters that it was not just stars that Lee took a dislike to. Supposedly Newcastle were all set to sign Alan Hansen, but dropped out of the deal at the last minute because Lee did not rate Scottish players. More seriously it has been said that he would not entertain signing players who were not white.

 

When the directors sanctioned the sale of Macdonald they were putting an enormous amount of faith in a manager that frankly didn't deserve it.

 

He had walked out on Blackburn after serving only 18 months of his contract and never actually got round to buying a house on Tyneside. Indeed the fact that his family was still in Lancashire was one of a number of "reasons" he gave for resigning his job in charge of a side currently in the top six for a side struggling against relegation.

 

A couple of weeks before Lee resigned he was quoted in the club programme. "There is a very happy atmosphere within the club .. and the relationship between the playing staff, the coaches, myself and the Board of Directors is excellent". Within weeks he had resigned, helpfully informing the players the morning of the FA Cup Tie at home to Man City.

 

TERRIFYING LEE

 

So there we have it; misunderstood genius or evil meddler?. If we consider the evidence a terrifying picture emerges

Lee had a complete aversion to "stars"; believing that they belonged in the heavens.It was a hatred that seemed to be almost evil.

 

The person he had most trouble with was Macdonald who was worshipped like a God on Tyneside. Even the song "Supermac, superstar, how many goals have you scored so far" was based on a song about Jesus.

 

When he resigned to take over at Everton he criticised the Newcastle board for "talking big" but not "acting big". He obviously felt that he could not achieve his vision working within such a parochial and parsimonious framework. What were his bigger plans?

 

He sold established first division players and replaced them with his own 3rd and 4th rate "disciples"; players such as Jones and Oates who had been with him at Blackburn. And created an inner sanctum at the club which he used to help oust his enemies.

 

If you spell Lee's name backwards you get "eel". An eel is a term occasionally used to describe "an evasive and untrustworthy person.”

 

Astonishingly - if you take the surname of all the players he bought one of the anagrams that can be created is "Why Sir CG, rigid Gordon Lee job work Satan.”

 

Now take a look at that elongated forehead and deep sunken eyes; is this the look of a man of this earth? 
 

I know your sceptical. The idea that one of our former managers is one of the devils own, some sort of inhuman zombie is a bit hard to swallow but I leave you with a quote from the man himself:

 

"EVEN WHEN YOU'RE DEAD YOU SHOULDN'T LIE DOWN AND LET YOURSELF BE BURIED"

 

I rest my case.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Toontimes

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Pokerprince2004

Pokerprince2004

Posted
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11 minutes ago, Toontimes said:

 

THE GLEE CLUB?

The article "Domestic Distress" revealed that in terms of results achieved Gordon Lee is one of the most succesful managers in the club's history.

In his first season at the club (1975/76) he guided them to the League Cup Final and the Sixth Round of the FA Cup; and in the following season he guided them into the top six of the first division; the first time the club had reached such heady heights since the 1950's

Yet he is also one of the most unpopular managers to sit in the St. James' hot seat. Why? Because he sold the star players and replaced them with also-rans, he encouraged negative football and he walked out on the club when he was offered better money by the Toffeemen

In this article we re-evaluate his contribution to the club and offer a startling explanation of the methods behind his apparent madness.

SUCCESSFUL LEE?

There can be no doubt that Lee's managerial career was comparatively successful

His first managerial post was with Port Vale whom he guided to the Third Division in his second season in charge. He spent another 4 seasons in the Midlands but never managed to take the team any higher. 

At Port Vale money was very scarce and Lee had to rely on free-transfers and homegrown talent, but as he proudly stated; "I have players who would literally dive through a brick wall for Port Vale"

In January 1974 he took over from Ken Furphy at Blackburn and guided them to the Third Division championship in the following season. The United board were sufficiently impressed to ask him to take over from Joe Harvey. The Blackburn board were less impressed and reported United for making an illegal approach; it was to be the start of a long running feud with the Lancastrians.

In his first season on the Toon (1975/76) he steered United to a League Cup Final and the 6th round of the FA Cup and if the club had not been struck with a plague of injury and illness of almost biblical proportions they might have done even better. The League campaign was more disappointing as the team ended 15th (the same position as the last season under Harvey). 

The sale of Supermac provided the prelude to the following season and the bookies immediately made United favourites for relegation. But after a shaky start the team closed ranks and steadily climbed the table until they reached the dizzy heights of third by the end of November.There were some notable performances including a 1-0 home win over leaders Liverpool and a 2-2 draw at Leeds after which Lee claimed "we showed Leeds how to play football." 

In January 1977 Lee resigned to take over at Everton and steered them away from the relegation zone and took them through to the League Cup Final and the FA Cup semi-finals The next seasons saw Everton finishing in third and fourth place respectively, but in 1979-1980 season things turned sour and - after months of speculation and a place just above the relegation positions - he was sacked.

Lee had further spells as manager of Preston (12/1981 - 12/1983) and Leicester (1/91 - 5/91), but his time had gone and further success eluded him

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Lee was from the Alan Durban (if you want entertainment go to a circus) school of management. Even in his first job at Port Vale the "negative" tactics he employed often came in for criticism, but he never apologised for playing "the style that gets results"

In 1973 West Ham manager Ron Greenwood accused Port Vale of "diabolical intimidation" in a a cup tie "For the first time in my life, I could relate violence on the field to violence on the terraces. People can say we were lucky. I agree Iucky to come away alive". Lee's response was 'I can only treat the remarks with the contempt they deserve'.

When Lee took over at United he derided Newcastle's "crash bang wallop" style of play; believing that to achieve success you needed to play "controlled" posession football. Despite this his first season at United had goals galore and thrills aplenty (indeed United scored more goals than any club in the country). It wasn't until the following season that Lee managed to stamp his personal "style" on the team.

The southern press derided Lee's team as "dull and workmanlike" and even some of the local pressmen were critical of the style of play. The fans too were openly critical of the team's new tactics (at least when they did not work). There was no doubt that on their day with their best players available United's were a match for the best in the land, but when players were missing or simply off-form they no longer had any players with the individual brilliance to turn a game.

PURGE OF THE INFIDELS

Immediately on joining Lee made it clear what sort of player he wanted at the club. "I have to make sure everybody in the team is working for everybody else. Anyone not prepared to work is out!".

So one by one he set about purging the side of the players he considered were not contributing to his team ethic. In reality the players that were moved on represented the "old guard". With the exception of Keeley they were all players who had been at the club a number of years; and nearly all were first-teamers

TERRY HIBBITT - £100,000 TO BIRMINGHAM [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Lee pinpointed Terry Hibbitt as a "troublemaker" and he was out of the door within months of Lee's arrival. Hibbitt found out he was leaving when he finished getting changed after an away match against Derby and found his boots wrapped up in a paper bag on top of a skip. Lee having already negotiated a transfer deal with Birmingham.

ALEX BRUCE - PART EXCHANGE TO PRESTON [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Bruce had been signed from Preston a couple of years earlier but had failed to break into the side and he was used as a makeweight in the deal that brought John Bird to Tyneside

GLEN KEELEY - £30,000 TO BLACKBURN [AUGUST 1976]

Keeley was a promising young 21 year old who had established himself in Joe Harvey's last year in charge, but he was rarely given a chance by Lee. He went on to have a notable career at Ewood Park where he played for 11 seasons (many as captain).

PAT HOWARD - £50,000 TO ARSENAL [SEPTEMBER 1976]

Centre-back Howard had made more than 250 appearances for the club and was still only 28 when he was sold. United turned down bids from Nottm Forest and Southampton before finally selling him to the Gunners.

JOHN TUDOR - £30,000 TO STOKE [OCTOBER 1976]

Supermac's old strike-partner Tudor was the last of the "old-guard" to be sold. A succession of injuries and the arrival of Gowling limited Tudor to 7(1) appearances during Lee's reign

MALCOLM MACDONALD - £333,333 TO ARSENAL [JULY 1976]

The sale of Supermac was of course the one that really took the headlines. In reality it had been on the cards since Lee first wandered through the gates at SJP, but it was still a monumental shock when he left

MAC AND LEE

As soon as Lee arrived at the club he made his feelings clear regarding footballing superstars. "Stars are something you see in the sky at night; they're for astrologers" was Lee's oft repeated refrain. "It's like another word people like to use these days, 'flair',. When I hear that word I think of something you light a fire with or the bottom of someone's trousers" Newcastle only had one true star at the time, Supermac 

In his many autobiographies Macdonald relates why he could not work with Lee. He tells of their first meeting when Lee asked him about Hibbitt the "trouble maker". He talks about the new "joke" training sessions that reminded him of PE lessons he had a school with a female sports mistress. He reveals how angry he was with the way Lee treated his mate Terry Hibbitt. And he also talks about numerous verbal altercations that the pair had. Further, as far as Macdonald was concerned Lee was "jealous" of the relationship Macdonald had with the Newcastle public.

Publicly though the pair were putting on a United front. I an interview with Shoot magazine in August 1975 Macdonald stated that in training "the air has been supercharged and there is a completely new enthusiasm among the players since Mr Lee has taken over our coaching sessions"

And after the home game with Leicester Lee talked in glowing terms about Macdonald.

But in reality their relationship went steadily downhill. Macdonald had been used to special treatment; he had a special relationship with Joe Harvey whereby he "never had to ask for a rise". Lee preferred to favour his own type of player; Gowling, Burns and Nulty forming an inner sanctum at the club. As Macdonald stated later "suddenly we had a players commitee, small meetings in locked rooms and a lot of gossip running throughout the club"

Lee actively encouraged other players to voice their opinions about Macdonald and this (according to Gowling) reached a crescendo on the post season tour of Malaysia in 1976

Mac refused to take part in the team picture at the start of the 1976/77 season because "he wouldn't be able to raise a smile" and within days he was off to London to join Arsenal

When Lee moved on to Everton he was asked if he would go back to Newcastle for any of his old players. His reply was typically forthright "If they wanted £333,000 for Macdonald, God only knows what they will want for the good players!"

Of course Suermac wasn't the only seventies star who failed to impress Gordon. Supermac When manager of Blackburn, Lee described Leeds United's Duncan McKenzie as a ‘piss pot player’. Not surprisingly when they met up again at Everton the player was soon moved on

BARGAIN-LESS BASEMENT

Lee's replacements were all picked up frm the Third and Fourth Divisions. Unfortunately that's where the majority of them belonged. As a consequence his successor "Richard Dinnis" was left with a paper-thin and inadequate squad of players. Disaster was just around the corner

ALAN GOWLING - £75,000 FROM HUDDERSFIELD [AUGUST 1975]

Twenty Six year old Gowling was rescued from the ailing Yorkshire club that now found itself in the bottom division. He was Lee's first and arguably only successful signing. When he signed him Lee controversially claimed he would outscore Supermac and to everyone's surpise he did just that in 1975/76 scoring 30 goals in 57 appearances whereas Mac managed 24 goals in 53 appearances.

However once Mac had left the goals dried up somewhat and he ended with a strike rate of only 33%. He was one of the protaganists in the "player power" of the Dinnis era and the arrival of strict disciplinarian Bill Mcgarry was him moving on to to Bolton in March 1978 with a strike rate of only 33%

JOHN BIRD - £100,000 FROM PRESTON [SEPTEMBER 1975]

Centre-back Bird was Preston's captain and the move resulted in their manager Bobby Charlton resigning. He had a torrid debut in a 4-0 defeat at Maine Road and faced heavy criticism from media and fans alike during his first season at the club. Dropped by Lee he was disciplined for speaking out in the press. He never fully established himself in the side, but still remained at the club for five seasons

ROGER JONES - £100,000 FROM BLACKBURN [MARCH 1976]

Lee went back to his old club to snap up 29 year old goalkeeper Roger Jones. he made 5 appearances during the rest of the season and appeared to be regarded by Lee as his number one.

He then suffered a shoulder injury in pre-season training and United claimed that they had been advised by a specialist that the injury was so serious that he would no longer play again. Eventually he joined Stoke on a free in February 1977 and continued playing for another eight seasons

A medical misjudgement or something more sinister? United used the injury as an excuse for refusing to cough up the money they owed Blackburn.

GRAHAM OATES - £100,000 FROM BLACKBURN [MARCH 1976]

Utility man Oates was snapped up at the same time as Jones and according to Supermac was given a wonderful build-up by Lee. Unfortunately he didn't live up to his reputation and his fate with the fans was sealed within four minutes of his home debut when he smacked a 25 yard back-pass into the roof of his own net. He struggled on (making a total of 29(10) appearances and scoring 3 goals) before joining the exodus of Football League failures in the American League

MARTIN GORRY - £50,000 FROM BARNSLEY [OCTOBER 1976]

21 year old Gorry was signed as a future prospect, but ended up making only one substitute appearance for the club in 1977/78 before joining Hartlepool on a free.

STEVE HARDWICK - £80,000 FROM CHESTERFIELD [DECEMBER 1976]

The injury to Roger Jones led Lee to buy another 'keeper, 20 year old Steve Hardwick. Hardwick was a former England youth and amatuer international. He eventually became the first choice keeper during 1978/79 and 1979/80, but was prone to errors which earned him stick from sections of the crowd and eventually his place in the side. He joined Oxford in February 1983 after making 101 appearances.

PERSONAL LEE

Lee could not work with "stars", but he certainly gained the respect of the other more mundane players

Tony Parkes (who was his assistant at Blackburn) has told of how many players were in tears when Lee resigned; some even went to his house to try and persuade him to stay

At Newcastle he was very popular with the "rump" that was left. Stewart Barrowclough's said at the time "I believe there is a new spirit at the club. Before we had some fine individuals at the club, now everyone works as part of a team"

But It has even been suggested in some quarters that it was not just stars that Lee took a dislike to. Supposedly Newcastle were all set to sign Alan Hansen, but dropped out of the deal at the last minute because Lee did not rate Scottish players. More seriously it has been said that he would not entertain signing players who were not white.

When the directors sanctioned the sale of Macdonald they were putting an enormous amount of faith in a manager that frankly didn't deserve it.

He had walked out on Blackburn after serving only 18 months of his contract and never actually got round to buying a house on Tyneside. Indeed the fact that his family was still in Lancashire was one of a number of "reasons" he gave for resigning his job in charge of a side currently in the top six for a side struggling against relegation

A couple of weeks before Lee resigned he was quoted in the club programme. "There is a very happy atmosphere within the club .. and the relationship between the playing staff, the coaches, myself and the Board of Directors is excellent". Within weeks he had resigned, helpfully informing the players the morning of the FA Cup Tie at home to Man City.

TERRIFYING LEE

So there we have it; misunderstood genius or evil meddler?. If we consider the evidence a terrifying picture emerges

Lee had a complete aversion to "stars"; believing that they belonged in the heavens.It was a hatred that seemed to be almost evil

The person he had most trouble with was Macdonald who was worshipped like a God on Tyneside. Even the song "Supermac, superstar, how many goals have you scored so far" was based on a song about Jesus 

When he resigned to take over at Everton he criticised the Newcastle board for "talking big" but not "acting big". He obviously felt that he could not achieve his vision working within such a parochial and parsimonious framework. What were his bigger plans?

He sold established first division players and replaced them with his own 3rd and 4th rate "disciples"; players such as Jones and Oates who had been with him at Blackburn. And created an inner sanctum at the club which he used to help oust his enemies

If you spell Lee's name backwards you get "eel". An eel is a term occasionally used to describe "an evasive and untrustworthy person"

Astonishingly - if you take the surname of all the players he bought one of the anagrams that can be created is "Why Sir CG, rigid Gordon Lee job work Satan"

Now take a look at that elongated forehead and deep sunken eyes; is this the look of a man of this earth? 

I know your sceptical. The idea that one of our former managers is one of the devils own, some sort of inhuman zombie is a bit hard to swallow but I leave you with a quote from the man/zombie himself 

"EVEN WHEN YOU'RE DEAD YOU SHOULDN'T LIE DOWN AND LET YOURSELF BE BURIED"

I rest my case.

 

I can't believe we had a player called Alex Bruce. I'd have flogged him for the name alone :lol:

 

 

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