The Gordon Lee era

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blue_aussie05

Player Valuation: £8m
I'm sure there are many who post on here who weren't even born when he was our manager, but for those who remember him, have you got any positive or negative recollections of his time at the club?
 

Under Lee, who was condemned as being anti big name, class act footballers, we actually had a very good team that at times were exhilarating to watch. Dave Thomas scampering down the left wing before crossing for Bob Latchford to bury so many of those crosses was a sight to behold. Given his reputation, the likes of Duncan McKenzie has never publicly vilified him.
 

Had a good team with players like Latchford, Thomas, King, Dobson, Pejic which should have won the league one year, but also didn't like the fans favourite McKenzie. So probably supporters had mixed feelings about his tenure.
 
When he took over from Bingham we were 18th out of 22 teams in the old First Division. We finished 9th that season, and got to the League Cup final, narrowly losing after 2 replays, and also taking Liverpool to a semi final replay in the FA Cup.

Following that season we finished 3rd, then 4th, then 19th (a place above the relegation zone) whilst going out in a FA cup semi final replay to eventual winners, West Ham. In his last season we finished 15th but had another decent FA Cup run.

As a youngster, I started watching us in the middle of Lee's era, so my first real memory of him is when the crowd turned on him towards the end.
 

More famously, Lee alienated 99.9% of Newcastle fans by selling 30-goal a season Malcolm MacDonald with whom the skunks narrowly escaped relegation two years on the trot... And with the proceeds he bought players with whom he made them contenders. It wasn't a hatred for talent with Lee, it was more about making the team better and to him, if that meant moving a fan hero, he had the afrontery to do it.
 
I was very fortunate to meet and chat with Gordon last summer the week after his 80th birthday. A quite remarkable man with a fantastic memory. His interview will be published in one of my books. The first edition is coming along fine and will make an announcement as to when you can purchase it.
 
So a good 2 and a half seasons, followed by 2 seasons of rubbish with a couple of decent cup runs thrown in.

I thought he had some good players, and built a decent team. Played some attractive attacking footy - Latchford, Thomas, King, Dobson. But just fell down at the last hurdle a few times when we were on the brink of doing something
 
Like a number of other Everton managers there was a prevalent view that he shackled his sides too much and should have given them more freedom to play. Decent sides, but lacked a killer instinct.
 
blue_aussie05 said:
I thought he had some good players, and built a decent team. Played some attractive attacking footy - Latchford, Thomas, King, Dobson. But just fell down at the last hurdle a few times when we were on the brink of doing something
Click to expand...

I remember saying a number of years ago that when the Moyes era finally ends, if he didn't win anything, he'd probably go down in our history in the same vein as a Gordon Lee. Someone who nearly did something, but never quite did. A nearly man.
 

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