David Lee, The mighty Atom Speaks to Manny Road
Friday April 16th, 2010
David Lee speaks to bwfcforum & Manny Road
Those of us of a certain age will have been fortune enough to have witnessed the rise following the fall of BWFC; from the dark depths of the Football league into the bright lights of the Premier League. Along that journey we saw some 
great players, great teams and great games and David Lee was at the forefront of that resurgence. After much nervous discussion we managed to secure his signature (albeit initially on loan) and his impact was instantaneous. He had pace, desire and a knack of making full backs wish they hadn’t bothered to come into work that day. He is now Bolton’s Assistant Academy Director.
He spoke to bwfcforum’s James Derbyshire:
You joined Bolton in 1992 from Southampton, did coming back to the North West play a big factor in wanting to move to Bolton?
It did yes, I had an indifferent time down at Southampton, I never really settled. When you’re a footballer you want to be playing regularly in the first team and I’d gone down with all expectations of being a regular, unfortunately things didn’t really work out for me. While I was down there, Bruce Rioch came to watch me play in a reserve game and gave me the invitation to come back and play in the north-west. To come and play back in the north-west was great, and obviously to come and play for Bolton Wanderers was just an added bonus.
You mentioned Bruce Rioch, what was he like to work with?
He was excellent. He is a disciplinarian, you knew what he wanted from you, he got every ounce of effort from you, and as long as you gave 100% regardless of whether you played good, bad or indifferent, he would stick by you. You’re not always able to play well every week but if you give 100% commitment that was what Bruce was looking for and he certainly got the best out of me.
The side from the early 90’s was probably best remembered for the cup upsets against the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and obviously reaching the ’95 cup final. Do you have any particular memories from those games?
Yeah, I think I’ve had fond memories of all the cup games we’ve played in. I think every cup game that we ever played in; we were the underdogs, which suited us fine. Bruce instilled it into us that with the work ethic we had we were capable of beating anyone and the teams that we did come against, the Arsenal’s, Liverpool’s and the Villa’s, we knew that because we’d been on good runs in the league, our form going into those games was excellent and our confidence was high, and we didn’t fear any of them and as you know we did get good results against teams like that.
The players are fondly remembered by Bolton fans as being quite lively in the 90’s, what was the banter like at the time, and any good stories?
The dressing room was very good, we were a sealed unit. No-one from the outside could influence us; we had some characters in the dressing room. The manager now, Owen Coyle, John McGinlay, Jason McAteer, Alan Stubbs, Tony Kelly, we all had the banter between us but we all knew that once the Saturday came, we’d all come together. It was often the case that if it was your birthday you had to bring a cake in, or a cream cake and on this one occasion someone brought a cake in and John McGinlay at the time was injured, he actually put a bar of soap inside one of the cream cakes and I think it was Stevie Fulton actually bit into the cake and it obviously had soap inside. Yeah, we had some good banter in the dressing room and we had some real fun.
You came back to the club in 2008 as an assistant academy director, what does the role entail?
I overlook the 12-16 age group and actually coach the U16’s. I overlook the coaches, B coaches, who work with the 12, 13 and 14 year olds and then we have a split group of 15 and 16 year olds and I work more with those alongside a part time coach Neil Pointon. It’s my job to produce these players into scholarship players to go into the youth team. It’s my job to bridge that gap and turn them into scholarship material and that’s my main aim at the moment to prepare them for the club.
Any young players the Bolton fans should be looking out for?
I never like to name names as it can put pressure on that pressure but we’ve got a nucleus now of 16 year olds who are coming in now to be scholarship players who we’ve got high hopes and expectations for. For every player coming into full-time football it’s a hell of an ask because they’ve been used to education and maybe more of a free-spirit than this is a professional job and it can be very demanding. Hopefully over the last couple of years I’ve put that ethic into the players where they know what it’s all about and what they’ve got to achieve and that they’ve been given that opportunity at scholarship level and now it’s up to them, and guys like myself as a coach to put them into place to become a first team footballer.
Thoughts on Owen Coyle taking over? You played with him; did you always think he was going to become a manger?
Yeah, he was quite a free spirit, when he was a player, very jovial. It was only the last few years of his career he decided to become a coach but I was very pleased when he came, he is a lovely character, he’s infectious on the club and individuals, he brings a great spirit to the place and I think we’ve seen that already over the latter part of the season were we have that togetherness with all the players to all the management staff. I’m really pleased to see him here, he’s doing a fantastic job and he’s a great manager. He’s proved his worth at Burnley and I’m sure he can do it here at Bolton.
You’re often remembered by the younger generation, who might not have watched you at Burnden Park, as being Bolton’s best player at the Masters, is that something you look forward to?
It is yeah, it’s nice because in football you do go your separate ways and you don’t always get to see players who’ve you played with over the past years so it’s nice to all come together. Often you don’t know who is going to be in the team until you actually turn up on the day so it’s always nice to see some old faces. I do look forward to it, I keep myself fit and healthy so it’s nice to display your skills on television on Sky once in a while. I always tell the young players about the fitness and that they should look after themselves now and if you can demonstrate that physically to them then it shows that it’s something to aim for. It’s a good laugh and hopefully one day we’ll win the competition. We came close last year, bit controversial, but hopefully we’ll be go on and win it this year.
You’ve played at the Reebok now with Jussi’s testimonial, difference between the Reebok and Burnden Park and which do you prefer?
I never actually played at the Reebok as a player but Burnden Park was always known for having a terrible surface. The atmosphere, especially in the mid-week games, was fantastic. We played on some horrendous pitches but we didn’t know anything different at the time, looking back now it would have been great to have a surface like the Reebok. We had some fantastic times though, a lot of success there and we’ve built the club up to the position it is now, or at least bridged that gap, the transition, because of the success we had it enables the Reebok to be as it is now in a good position.
Finally, last year Bolton signed another winger by the name of Lee. What are your thoughts on Lee Chung Yong and how far do you think he can go?
He’s done really well. He’s had that transitional period where he comes from a different country, playing different types of football. From what I’ve seen of him so far, he’s a very direct player, he makes things happen and he’s very brave. He takes players on and if he doesn’t succeed he’ll try again. It’s nice to see the old fashioned winger, he mixes his game up well, he scores goals and produces goals which as a wide player you’re expected to do. I’m delighted that he is doing well for the club and he is definitely one of the players that I like to watch.
David Lee stats:
Year Team Apps Goals
1986-1991 Bury 208 35
1991-1992 Southampton 20 0
1992 Wanderers (loan) 8 1
1992-1997 Wanderers 147 16
1997-2000 Wigan 84 11
1999 Blackpool (loan) 9 1
2000-2001 Carlisle 13 0
2001 Morecambe 12 0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9p3OzwQs0k
Many thanks to David for taking the time to speak to us.
Andy Walker, BWFC Goals, BWFC News, Bruce Rioch, Tony Kelly
1 Comment to David Lee, The mighty Atom Speaks to Manny Road
Oh the memories. I could watch that video forever.
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April 16, 2010