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Alan Lee

Personal information
Full name	Alan Meggs Lee
Date of birth	21 August 1978 (1978-08-21) (age 31)
Place of birth	Galway, Republic of Ireland
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Crystal Palace
Number	19
Youth career
	Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1999	Aston Villa	0	(0)
1998–1999	→ Torquay United (loan)	7	(2)
1999	→ Port Vale (loan)	11	(2)
1999–2000	Burnley	15	(0)
2000–2003	Rotherham United	111	(37)
2003–2006	Cardiff City	86	(10)
2006–2008	Ipswich Town	103	(31)
2008–	Crystal Palace	52	(8)
2009	→ Norwich City (loan)	7	(2)
National team
	Republic of Ireland under-21	5	(0)
2003–2006	Republic of Ireland	10	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:42, 16 March 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Alan Meggs Lee (born 21 August 1978 in Galway) is a professional footballer currently playing for Championship club Crystal Palace. He also plays internationally for the Republic of Ireland.

He is considered something of a cult hero at Rotherham United, who he played for over a three year period.^[1]

Playing career

Lee began his career as a trainee with Aston Villa, turning professional in August 1995, although was never quite good enough for the first team at Villa Park. His league debut came after joining Torquay United on loan in November 1998, scoring three times in nine games. In March 1999 he joined Port Vale on a two month loan. He left Villa in July 1999 when Burnley signed him for £200,000. He scored once for Burnley, in a 2-1 Football League Trophy defeat at Wigan Athletic.^[2] He moved to Rotherham United for £150,000 in November 2000 after a short loan spell. He scored 36 times in 114 games for the Millmoor side before moving Cardiff City in August 2003 for a fee of £850,000, just days after impressing Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence in a goalless draw on the opening day of the season. Rotherham's manager Ronnie Moore prophesied that "Alan Lee can and will do better than Cardiff".^[3]

He found himself struggling with injuries at Ninian Park and largely out of first team contention.^[4] In January 2006 joined Ipswich Town for £100,000.^[5] He scored his second career hat-trick in a 5–0 win against Luton Town on 29 October 2006. He penned a new deal with the club in August 2007,^[6] but in January 2008 there was speculation of a move back to Burnley for £900,000 but the Ipswich chairman^[7] and Alan Lee himself denied these rumours. He completed his his season tally of 12 goals with the winner in Ipswich's 1-0 win against Hull City on the final day of the season.

In August 2008, Lee moved again, leaving Ipswich for Crystal Palace for a fee of around £640,000.^[8] In March 2009, he moved out on loan to Norwich City,^[9] his spell lasting for the rest of the season. Norwich went close to signing Lee permanently six years previously, but lost out to Cardiff.^[10] His performances at Norwich earned him public praise from skipper Gary Doherty.^[11] On the 31st August 2009 Lee scored his 100th league goal against Peterborough United.

International career

An Irish under-21 international, he was said to have been overlooked whilst at Rotherham.^[12] But was utilised for his country whilst with Cardiff.^[13]

Statistics

Club career

(correct as of 16 March 2010)

References

External links

• Alan Lee player profile at itfc.co.uk
• Alan Lee player profile at cardiffcityfc.co.uk
• Alan Lee career stats at Soccerbase