Kieran Lee

Not to be confused with Keiran Lee or Kieran Lee (TV personality).

Kieran Lee
Personal information
Full name Kieran Christopher Lee[1]
Date of birth (1988-06-22) 22 June 1988 (age 36)[1]
Place of birth Stalybridge, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
2004–2006 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Manchester United 1 (0)
2008 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 7 (0)
2008–2012 Oldham Athletic 117 (5)
2012–2020 Sheffield Wednesday 196 (20)
2021–2023 Bolton Wanderers 77 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:37, 7 May 2023 (UTC)

Kieran Christopher Lee (born 22 June 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a central midfielder.

Lee began his career with Manchester United, before moving on to play for Oldham Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday, and Bolton Wanderers.

Career

Manchester United

A central midfielder earlier in his career, he was deployed more often by Manchester United as a full back, either on the left or on the right. He signed for the club on a youth contract in July 2004, after impressing in the club's Under-17 team for the past two years. He continued to progress up the youth system, playing 25 times for the Under-18s in 2004–05, and making another 23 appearances in 2005–06. He also played in 16 matches for the Reserves that season, in various competitions.

His performances that season earned him a two-year professional contract with the club and, just three days after signing it, he was given his first taste of first team football, coming on as a second-half substitute for Wes Brown in Roy Keane's testimonial against Celtic at Old Trafford. In addition to this, he also made appearances in first team friendlies prior to the 2006–07 season, first coming on as a substitute for Phil Bardsley away to Preston North End, and then playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–1 victory over Macclesfield Town.

Lee's Reserve team performances were rewarded in the 2006–07 season by him being given the captain's armband. In between his 25 appearances for the Reserves that season, Lee also made his first team debut. He was named as a substitute in the League Cup Third Round tie against Crewe Alexandra and, with the score at 1–1, he came on for David Gray in the 77th minute. The match went to extra time and, with less than two minutes remaining, Lee made a charging run up from right back to latch onto an Alan Smith through-ball. He composed himself, and slid the ball coolly past Crewe's former Manchester United goalkeeper, Ben Williams.[2]

This appearance was followed up by another in the Fourth Round of the League Cup, this time against Southend United. Lee came on for John O'Shea in the 75th minute, but was unable to rescue the team from a 1–0 loss. Towards the end of the season, United suffered a dearth of defenders, with Mikaël Silvestre, Patrice Evra, Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidić all out through injury at one time or another, so Lee was called into the squad for the matches against Milan and Everton, although he did not play in either game. He finally made his Premier League debut against Chelsea on 9 May 2007. Since the title race had been sewn up the game before, United manager Alex Ferguson was able to select a team of fringe players for the game, including Lee. At the end of the season, in recognition of his fine performances over the preceding 12 months, Lee was awarded the Denzil Haroun Reserve Team Player of the Year award.[3]

On 12 December 2007, Lee was again named as a substitute for the Champions League game against Roma, but did not get to play. It was announced on 28 December 2007 that Lee would be joining Queens Park Rangers on loan from 2 January 2008. He would then be eligible to play for QPR against Chelsea in the FA Cup on 5 January.[4]

Oldham Athletic

After spending four months on loan at QPR, making seven appearances, Lee became Oldham Athletic's first signing of summer 2008. Moving on a free transfer, Lee signed a two-year contract with the Latics, beginning on 1 July 2008.[5] His first game with Oldham came in the League Cup second round in a 3–0 loss to Burnley.[6] On 26 December, he made his league debut for Oldham in a 3–0 win versus Crewe Alexandra, assisting in the final goal by Lee Hughes.[7]

His first goal for Oldham was a 95th-minute equaliser against Swindon Town on 22 August 2009,[8] and after struggling to make an impression in the previous season, he appeared far more regularly from then on, becoming the regular choice at right back as the season progressed. He maintained this progress under new manager Paul Dickov, and for the rest of his career at Boundary Park he made the right back position his own. He signed a new one-year contract with Oldham Athletic on 4 March 2011.[9] and on 27 April 2011, he won four Player of the Year awards for Oldham including Players' Player of the Year and Fans' Player of the Year, as well as the honours from Boundary Blues and Oldham Athletic Supporters Association.

Kieran Lee scored his first goal of the 2011–12 season against Chesterfield with a 25-yard strike to the bottom left hand corner in a 5–2 win for the Latics.[10] He also dominated the end-of-season awards presentation in May 2012, again winning the Latics' 4 'Player of the Year' awards.[11]

Sheffield Wednesday

On 28 May 2012, Lee signed a three-year deal with Sheffield Wednesday, after rejecting the offer of a new contract with the Latics.[12]

In July 2019, he signed a new one-year contract with Sheffield Wednesday.[13]

On 24 June 2020, he signed a one-month extension to cover the rest of the 2019–20 season which was delayed due to the coronavirus.[14]

Bolton Wanderers

On 8 January 2021, Lee signed an 18-month contract with EFL League Two side Bolton Wanderers after spending the previous few weeks training at the University of Bolton Stadium.[15] He made his debut 13 January 2021, starting and playing 71 minutes in a 1–1 draw against Exeter City.[16] He scored his first goal in the 2-1 win against Walsall on 20 March. This was his first goal since scoring against Bolton for Sheffield Wednesday in October 2017.[17] On 5 November, he signed a one-year contract extension extending it to 2023.[18] On 2 April, he came on as a substitute in the 2023 EFL Trophy final against Plymouth Argyle. Bolton went on to win 4–0.[19] On 23 May the club confirmed that Lee would be leaving at the end of his contract in June.[20]

Career statistics

As of match played 13 May 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Manchester United 2006–07[21] Premier League 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 1
2007–08[22] Premier League 0 0 – 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 1
Queens Park Rangers (loan) 2007–08[22] Championship 7 0 1 0 – – 8 0
Oldham Athletic 2008–09[23] League One 7 0 1 0 1 0 1[a] 0 10 0
2009–10[24] League One 24 1 1 0 0 0 1[a] 0 26 1
2010–11[25] League One 43 2 0 0 1 0 1[a] 0 45 2
2011–12[26] League One 43 2 4 0 1 0 5[a] 0 53 2
Total 117 5 6 0 3 0 8 0 134 5
Sheffield Wednesday 2012–13[27] Championship 23 0 2 0 1 0 – 26 0
2013–14[28] Championship 26 1 3 0 0 0 – 29 1
2014–15[29] Championship 33 6 1 0 0 0 – 34 6
2015–16[30] Championship 43 5 2 0 4 1 3[b] 1 52 7
2016–17[31] Championship 26 5 0 0 0 0 2[b] 0 28 5
2017–18[32] Championship 15 3 0 0 0 0 – 15 3
2018–19[32] Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 0
2019–20[32] Championship 28 0 2 0 0 0 – 30 0
Total 196 20 10 0 5 1 5 1 216 22
Bolton Wanderers 2020–21[33] League Two 20 2 – – – 20 2
2021–22[34] League One 25 5 2 0 2 0 1[a] 1 31 6
2022–23[35] League One 32 3 1 0 2 0 6[c] 0 41 3
Total 77 10 3 0 4 0 7 1 91 11
Career totals 398 36 20 0 14 2 20 2 452 40
Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e Appearances in Football League Trophy
  2. ^ a b Appearances in Championship play-offs
  3. ^ Five appearances in EFL Trophy, one appearance in League One play-offs

Honours

Bolton Wanderers

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b c Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. ^ "Crewe 1–2 Man Utd (aet)". BBC Sport. 25 October 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  3. ^ "And the award goes to...". Inside United (180). Manchester: Future Publishing: 34–38. July 2007.
  4. ^ "QPR swoop for Man Utd starlet Lee". BBC Sport. 28 December 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  5. ^ "Oldham swoop for Fleming and Lee". BBC Sport. 22 May 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  6. ^ "Burnley 3–0 Oldham". BBC Sport. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  7. ^ "Crewe 0–3 Oldham". BBC Sport. 26 December 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  8. ^ "Oldham 2–2 Swindon". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 22 August 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Lee handed fresh Oldham contract". BBC News. 4 March 2011.
  10. ^ "19 November 2011, Oldham 5 - 2 Chesterfield". oldhamathletic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 December 2011.
  11. ^ Oldham Athletic [dead link]
  12. ^ "Sheffield Wednesday bring in full-back Lee". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  13. ^ "Kieran Lee: Sheffield Wednesday midfielder signs new one-year contract". BBC Sport. 26 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Owls 2019/20 player update". Sheffield Wednesday F.C. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  15. ^ "Lee makes Wanderers move". Bolton Wanderers FC. 8 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  16. ^ "Exeter City 1-1 Bolton Wanderers". Retrieved 15 August 2023 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  17. ^ "Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Walsall". Retrieved 15 August 2023 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  18. ^ "New Deals For Key Quartet | Bolton Wanderers FC". www.bwfc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  19. ^ a b "Bolton Wanderers 4-0 Plymouth Argyle". BBC Sport.
  20. ^ "Wanderers Confirm Retained List". bwfc.co.uk. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  22. ^ a b "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  23. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  24. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  25. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  26. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  27. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  28. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  29. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  30. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  31. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  32. ^ a b c "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  33. ^ a b "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  34. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  35. ^ "Games played by Kieran Lee in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  36. ^ "League Two Betting | 2023/24 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  37. ^ Bostock, Adam (4 May 2010). "De Laet's delight". ManUtd.com. Manchester United Football Club. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2020.