Bob Lee: Black Cats’ first £200k footballer
SUNDERLAND’S first £200,000 footballer may have signed after the long hot summer of 1976 but his contribution was considered lukewarm by the supporters.
Bob Lee, now 71, was a centre-forward who scored 33 goals in 122 appearances.
He was a 23-year-old when Bob Stokoe signed him to break the club’s transfer record shortly before he resigned as manager having led the team to glory at Wembley in 1973.
Lee was said to have struggled in a side that was struggling at the top level after winning promotion.
According to Sunderland AFC Miscellany, it was rumoured that Stokoe had planned on signing Frank Worthington from Leicester City which would have been a completely different proposition given the England forward’s standing in the game and reputation as an entertainer.
However, the Foxes persuaded Stokoe to sign Lee instead, which for fans would have been rather like shopping for a Ferrari and emerging from the showroom in a Vauxhall Chevette.
Worthington actually signed for the Black Cats six years later by which time he had played for Bolton, Birmingham and Leeds as well as having loan spells in the United States with Philadelphia Fury and
Tampa Bay Rowdies, as well as Sweden with Mjallby AIF.
Lee was therefore seen as a lesser signing and although his goalscoring figures were none too shabby, he was never seen as over popular with the supporters.
They considered a record signing to make a greater impact in the same way the first £100,000 recruit, Dave
Watson, had done. Lee’s record wasn’t dramatically inferior to that of another Sunderland forward, Vic Halom, who had left the club two months before Lee arrived on Wearside.
Halom had chalked up 42 goals in 139 games and while he was viewed as a fans’ favourite and was an FA Cup winner as a bargain buy, Lee was viewed as not making enough of his powerful physique and physicality.
The irony was, just as Halom had played at Wembley, Lee went on to do the same, only in his case it was in the 1985 FA Trophy final for Boston United where they lost 2-1 to Wealdstone.
At Boston, Lee was the star man at age 32 and he was considered a hero in the semi-final second leg. Having drawn 0-0 at Altrincham in the first leg, the Lincolnshire outfit beat Alty 3-2 in the second clash, thanks to a last-minute winner from Lee.
By coincidence, today is the 39th anniversary of that cup final appearance for Lee. A man who can look back on his career with pride – as well as the honour of being Sunderland’s first £200,000 player.