Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Norman Lees[1] | ||
Date of birth | [1] | 17 November 1948||
Place of birth | Newcastle upon Tyne, England | ||
Position(s) | Mid fielder | ||
Youth career | |||
– | Hull City | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1966–1971 | Hull City | 5 | (0) |
1970–1971 | → Hartlepool (loan) | 20 | (1) |
1971–1977 | Darlington | 120 | (5) |
198?–198? | Beograd-Woodville | ||
Managerial career | |||
1986 | Parafield Gardens | ||
1986–1987 | Beograd-Woodville | ||
1988–1989 | Modbury | ||
1990–1992 | Cumberland United | ||
1998–1999 | White City Woodville | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Norman Lees (born 17 November 1948) is an English former footballer who made 145 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Hull City, Hartlepool and Darlington in the 1960s and 1970s.[2] He continued his career in Australia as player and coach.
Lees was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.[1] He began his football career as an apprentice with Hull City, and made his first-team debut for the club on the last day of the 1966–67 Football League season, in a 4–1 defeat away to Crystal Palace in the Second Division. Over the next three-and-a-half years, he made just five more senior appearances for Hull,[3] and in December 1970, he joined Fourth Division club Hartlepool on loan. He scored Hartlepool's first goal in his debut match, a 2–1 win at home to York City, and played regularly for the remainder of the season, finishing with 20 appearances, all in league competition.[4]
In the 1971 close season, Lees moved on to Darlington, also a Fourth Division club. He was involved in one potentially disastrous incident while playing in a floodlit match at the Darlington's Feethams ground. While retrieving the ball, which had gone out of play, he noticed that rubbish beneath a wooden stand had caught fire. Fortunately the fire had not taken hold and was quickly extinguished.[5] Over six seasons he scored 5 goals from 120 league appearances before his contract was cancelled in 1977.[2][6]
Lees continued his football career with 15 years in Australia, first as a player and later,[5] after taking courses under the auspices both of the Australian Soccer Federation[7] and the English Football Association, as a coach. After coaching amateur team Parafield Gardens, he was appointed head coach of South Australia State League team Beograd-Woodville in December 1986,[8] but was dismissed in mid-season after the club committee disagreed with his selection policy.[9]
After his successor resigned early the following season, Lees was offered an apology and his old job back. He was by then committed to a junior coaching role at West Adelaide Hellas,[10] but a couple of months later was appointed head coach of Modbury, newly promoted to the State League.[11] Ahead of the 1990 season, he was appointed assistant to Arthur Ruttley at Port Adelaide;[12] three months later, Ruttley was sacked and Lees "resigned in protest", again over a matter of team selection.[13] Appointed head coach of Cumberland United ahead of the 1991 season,[14] Lees resigned his post in March 1992[15] and returned to England.
He remained in England for a six-year period, then resumed his coaching career in 1998 with a year as head coach of White City Woodville.[16][17] After making a final return to England, he worked for a printing firm on Tyneside.[5]