Colin LEE

                                             Biography (Part 1) 1980/81.

Colin Lee's name may not be spoken around Stamford Bridge with the same reverential tones which are afforded to some of his 1980's contemporaries but his contribution during a seven-year spell with Chelsea was immense. A tall, well-built figure, comfortable with the ball at his feet and exceptional in the air, he was signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £200, 000 in January 1980. He had to wait two months for his debut as a result of a hamstring injury which then resurfaced in only his second game. He returned a month later for an Easter Monday match against Luton and scored his first goal for the club with the last kick of the game. The goal secured a 1-1 draw, Chelsea's only point of a disastrous three-match Easter period in which they effectively blew their hopes of promotion, eventually missing out on goal difference. Lee quickly made up for the disappointments of the previous season when he propelled The Blues to the top of the Second Division in the autumn of 1980 with an outstanding run of form. He scored his first goal of the campaign in a 1-0 win over Cambridge and followed it up a week later with Chelsea's goal in a 1-1 draw with Preston in front of the TV cameras at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately for Colin the cameras were there to film an episode of Minder rather than the football!

He scored five more times in the next four games, all of which Chelsea won, leaving The Blues firmly at the top of the pile. On 25th October 1980, three years to the day since he had made a remarkable four-goal debut for Tottenham, Lee scored a stunning treble in a 6-0 victory over Newcastle. With speculation of an England call-up beginning to mount, he scored in four of the next five games to take his tally to 14 goals in as many matches before the goals inexplicably dried-up. He scored just two more, one a diving header in an FA Cup defeat at Southampton and the other a penalty in a 3-0 victory over Shrewsbury which was one of just three league games out of the last 22 in which Chelsea managed to find the net. (Kelvin Barker)

                                           (Part 2) 1981/82-1982/83

Colin Lee sealed his place in Chelsea's history on the opening day of the 1981/82 season when he scored the goal which completed a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, securing The Blues' first-ever three-point victory. Although he was unable to make the same impact in front of goal as he had in the early part of the previous season, Lee's overall contribution to the team did not go unnoticed by the supporters or the management. On February 13th 1982 he gave his finest all-round performance in a Chelsea shirt as The Blues humbled European champions Liverpool in an FA Cup 5th round tie. Paired in attack with the speedy Clive Walker, Lee was a colossus against The Reds' celebrated defence, setting up the opener and scoring the second in a 2-0 victory. Four days later he was sent-off for retaliating to a nasty challenge by Cardiff's Gary Bennett and his subsequent suspension meant he would have to sit out the quarter-final match against his old club Tottenham.

As the season reached its close, Chelsea had something of an injury crisis and manager John Neal asked Lee to play in defence. It looked like the work of a tactical genius when he scored three times in two games from right-back, a brace against Cambridge and a late headed winner against QPR. He played out much of the remainder of the campaign at centre-half in place of the injured Micky Droy. Chelsea's 1982/83 season was a disaster, with relegation to Division Three only being averted by two points. Colin started the season in attack but by Christmas he was forming a tenacious partnership with Droy at the heart of the defence. He was then drafted to right-back before finally ending the season where he had begun, in attack. Some of the younger players struggled to come to terms with the club's predicament that year, and others appeared to lack commitment, but Lee's willingness to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the team set a fine example to many of those around him. (Kelvin Barker)

Playing alongside new signing Kerry Dixon, Colin Lee began the 1983/84 season in fine style but when he fell ill in October he was replaced by David Speedie and the excellent Dixon/Speedie partnership was born. Colin returned to the team in January when he replaced the ageing John Hollins at right-back. He made the position his own, playing in all but the final two games of the season as Chelsea raced to the Second Division title. Injuries and the arrival of Darren Wood restricted Colin's opportunities the following season, although he still managed 30 appearances in total. He played nine times during the run to the Milk Cup semi-final and headed the late equaliser which earned a draw at Walsall. He scored once in the league, a bizarre twice-taken penalty against West Ham which was saved on both occasions by the keeper and volleyed back past him both times by Lee. The hamstring problem returned in February during the first-leg of the Milk Cup semi-final at Sunderland. He bravely limped around for an hour as Chelsea had already used their substitute but it led to another two months on the treatment table.

Colin was the first choice right-back as the 1985/86 season began but the inevitable injury occurred in September allowing Wood to secure the spot. On March 23rd 1986, Lee came in from the cold to replace the injured Dixon for the Full Members Cup final at Wembley. Rolling back the years, he scored twice in a 5-4 victory, his only goals of yet another season blighted by injury. 1986/87 was Colin's last as a Chelsea player. His final game, and his only start of the season, came against Arsenal in March 1987 when he set up the only goal of the game with a wonderful pass to debutant Colin West after just two minutes. Brave as ever, he limped away from the Stamford Bridge pitch five minutes from time, having given his all in a Chelsea shirt for the 223rd time. That summer he joined Brentford as Player/Youth Development Officer for a fee of £17, 500. (Kelvin Barker)