Sammy Lee joins Brighton as assistant manager

Bolton Wanderers can announced that head of academy coaching and development Sammy Lee has joined Brighton & Hove Albion as their new assistant manager.

Lee had been working within the club’s academy coaching structure since February 2012, having previously occupied roles as first team manager, assistant manager and player.

And Lee will now link up with new Brighton boss Sami Hyypia, with whom he had previously worked with at Liverpool.

Chairman Phil Gartside said: “Sammy has been a fantastic servant to Bolton Wanderers during his time with us.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Sammy for his endeavours and efforts with us and wish him all the best for the future.”

Everyone at Bolton Wanderers would like to wish Sammy well in his new venture with Brighton & Hove Albion.

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That puts a nail in JP taking over as manager when we finally give the boot to D.F. Useless Twat

He should be our assistant IMO, much better quality of coach than anything Dougie has alongside him on the touchline.

Great knowledge of the game and very good with the younger players.

Our loss, brightons gain.

Lee was a good mouthpiece for Allardyce like Phil Brown before him.

But nobody that knows their stuff would have managed the club the way he did. I remember knowing instantly what he was trying to do, and deciding as quickly that it was never gonna work. It never did work, incidentally.

He's far away enough from Bolton now for my liking, but only just.

Might have been a good coach - well then again maybe so could I if I had the likes of Djorkaeff, Hierro, Anelka, Jay Jay, Campo, etc to work with - but he really was found out big time when Gartside made him manager.

Worst manager in my lifetime until Coyle came along.

Good luck to him and all that but I never could understand his career path - manager, back to Liverpool, back to Bolton to coach the kids(?), now off back into assistant management?

Can't ever see him becoming a decent manager at all.




(Too lightweight!)

Good Riddance! Hope at some stage Brighton have to sack their manager and decide to appoint this "Little Hitler" as replacement. That'll fuck 'em up good and proper.

Ex-Bolton Wanderers boss Sammy Lee makes late U-turn and turns down Brighton for Southampton

Sammy Lee has made a shocking last-minute switch to Premier League Southampton, hours after being unveiled as Brghton’s new assistant manager.

Wanderers had announced that their former boss, who had been working as head of academy coaching and development since 2012, was to become Sami Hyypia’s new number two at the Amex Stadium.

But after an incredible last-minute change of heart, the 52-year-old rejected the post to take up a late offer from the Saints to join new manager Ronald Koeman’s coaching staff.

Lee released a statement on Sunday detailing the timeline of his sudden U-turn.

“I was thrilled to be offered the job at Brighton and I was excited at the prospect of working with Sami Hyypia again - but, totally unexpectedly, I have been given an opportunity to work in the Premier League,” he said.

“I fully appreciate that this is not an ideal set of circumstances and I am very sorry for the inconvenience and any embarrassment my change of mind, after the announcement was made, has caused. However, at this stage of my coaching career, the opportunity to work again at the very top level of English football was not something I felt I could turn down.

“I hope that everyone at Brighton - including Tony Bloom, Sami Hyypia, Paul Barber and David Burke - and the club's fans can understand the difficult predicament I found myself in and why I made this decision.

“I would like to thank Tony, Sami, Paul and David for the opportunity to join Brighton and I genuinely wish them, the club and the fans the very best for the season ahead.”

Lee’s decision has not gone down well at Albion, with chief executive Paul Barber insisting that neither his club or Wanderers were aware of Saints’ offer.

He told The Brighton Argus: “It is extremely disappointing for the club, Sami Hyypia and those of us who worked hard to bring him here, that Sammy Lee has now reversed his decision after agreeing to become assistant manager.

“Nobody at our club or Bolton Wanderers, was aware of any interest from Southampton until several hours after we announced Sammy's appointment as our assistant manager. It's certainly not a situation any of us have come across before.

“Having already agreed his contract and terms with us to start work on Monday, we could have insisted on Sammy serving a notice period, but we all feel it would have been counterproductive to do so; and while it's incredibly frustrating for us we wish Sammy well.”

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Sluffy wrote:Might have been a good coach - well then again maybe so could I if I had the likes of Djorkaeff, Hierro, Anelka, Jay Jay, Campo, etc to work with - but he really was found out big time when Gartside made him manager.

Worst manager in my lifetime until Coyle came along.

Good luck to him and all that but I never could understand his career path - manager, back to Liverpool, back to Bolton to coach the kids(?), now off back into assistant management?

Can't ever see him becoming a decent manager at all.




(Too lightweight!)

Lee might be rubbish but may I humbly propose three more managers for your list of bad managers in your lifetime.

#1 One had a Ginger top but kept us in the Prem.
#2 was a nice bloke from north of the border who managed to take us down.
#3 another geezer with a yen for haggis who made sure we stay down.

You may have forgotten these blokes......just saying  

Sammy Lee reminds me of Brian Kidd, a good number 2 but useless number 1. Both men are good coaches but poor managers and I for one don't wish him any ill. He did the best he could as our manager and was fired but still came back to work here even after that which suggests he didn't feel hard done to. In fact I admire Sammy for taking the jobs he did with us. It would have been easy for him to turn us down instead of returning to the scene of failure. Good luck to the man.