Lee Bullen

Lee Bullen
Personal information
Full name Lee Bullen
Date of birth (1971-03-29) 29 March 1971
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Centre back
Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988-1989 Dunfermline Athletic 0 (0)
1989-1990 Penicuik Athletic 17 (12)
1990 Meadowbank Thistle 12 (0)
1990-1991 Stenhousemuir 22 (4)
1991-1993 Whitburn 36 (25)
1993 CYC Stanmore 8 (2)
1993-1994 Wollongong Wolves ? (?)
1994-1995 Kui Tan ? (?)
1995-1997 Golden ? (30)
1997-1998 South China ? (0)
1998-2000 Kalamata 50 (11)
2000-2004 Dunfermline Athletic 130 (22)
2004-2008 Sheffield Wednesday 134 (8)
2008-2011 Falkirk 41 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:56, 25 January 2010 (UTC).


Lee Bullen (Chinese: 李 布倫, born 29 March 1971 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish football player and coach. In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Bullen has played football professionally in Scotland, England, Australia, Greece and Hong Kong. Having started his career as a striker, Bullen converted to defence midway through his career, and has also been used in various other positions. Lee was named as Sheffield Wednesday's greatest ever captain on a prostatecanceruk.org poll. [1]

Career

Bullen started his career in Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic, but failed to make an appearance before moving to Penicuik Athletic, a Junior Football team. Bullen then spent time at Meadowbank Thistle, Stenhousemuir and Whitburn. After failing to become an established player at a professional club in Scotland, Bullen moved to Australia to pursue his footballing career, playing for CYC Stanmore and Wollongong Wolves.

During his time in Australia, Bullen was scouted by a Hong Kong football club, Kui Tan, and he made the switch to Hong Kong. He played in the Hong Kong Football League for 4 seasons in total, moving from Kui Tan to Golden then on to South China. On 26 May 1996, Bullen played for a Hong Kong XI side in an unofficial friendly against England in their build up to Euro 96.[2]

In 1998 Bullen moved to Greece and spent 2 years at Kalamata in the Greek Football League.

In 2000 at the age of 29, Bullen returned to Scotland, signing for Dunfermline Athletic. Bullen spent five years at the Scottish club.

After leading Dunfermline to the Scottish Cup Final, Bullen moved to English club Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer in the summer of 2004. He immediately became an integral part of their Play-Off push after making his debut on 7 August in a 3–0 defeat on the opening day of the season at Hillsborough against Colchester United and scoring his first goal the next game on 10 August, away at Blackpool to lead the team to a 2–1 victory. In November 2005 the Captain's armband was passed onto him by Chris Marsden who was forced into retirement by injury. Bullen finished his first season in Sheffield with seven league goals.

During his time at Sheffield Wednesday he played in all eleven positions for the Owls,[3] including memorably in goal away at Millwall,[4] and received The Wash & Go good sport award for his efforts.[5]

In January 2008 Bullen was informed by Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws that he would not have his contract renewed upon its expiry at the end of the 2007–08 season.[6]

Bullen's final appearance for Sheffield Wednesday came in a crucial relegation battle against Leicester City on the penultimate game of the season which the Owls won 3–1, an injury sustained in this game denied him an appearance for the last match of the season versus Norwich City on 4 May 2008 and a chance to play at Hillsborough for the last time. He did however appear in the end of season lap-of-honour and received a spectacular reception from the fans. Bullen was given a Guard of honour by his Wednesday team mates as he left the pitch for the final time.

In May 2008, Bullen joined Scottish Premier League side Falkirk on a two-year deal.[7] Bullen later became an assistant coach at Falkirk. He scored his only goal for Falkirk in a 2-0 win over Hamilton Academical in November 2009.[8] He left Falkirk in October 2011 to move to Sheffield, where his wife runs an estate agency business.[9] In the same year Bullen signed a deal to become a youth coach at his former club Sheffield Wednesday and was given the post of Development Squad Head Coach. In October 2015 he was promoted to the position of Assistant Manager at the club, working on First Team coaching and organisation alongside Head Coach Carlos Carvalhal.

Career statistics

(Correct as of 22 November 2009)
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dunfermline 1999–00 137000000137
2000–01 244400000284
2001–02 274300000304
2002–03 355610000416
2003–04 272810000353
Total 12622212000014724
Sheffield Wednesday 2004–05 467200040527
2005–06 280200000300
2006–07 380310000411
2007–08 221300000231
Total 134810100401489
Falkirk 2008–09 32050000000
2009-10 9100000000
Total 0000000000
Recent career totals 26030313004029533

Honours

Instant-Dict
Sheffield Wednesday
Individual

References

  1. http://prostatecanceruk.org/get-involved/do-an-event/football-league/greatest-captain/59-lee-bullen-sheffield-wednesday
  2. "International Matches 1996: April–June". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  3. "Lee Bullen Profile". SWFC.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  4. "Millwall 0–1 Sheff Wed". bbc.co.uk. 4 February 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  5. "Jagielka A Winner At Football League Awards". 4thegame.com. 7 March 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
  6. "Bullen: Total Respect For Laws". SWFC.co.uk. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  7. "McCann and Bullen to join Bairns". BBC News. 2008-05-14. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  8. "Falkirk 2 - 0 Hamilton". BBC. 21 November 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  9. Parks, Gordon (27 October 2011). "Departing Falkirk coach Lee Bullen: Who's gonna guard our lucky quid now that I've had to quit?". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.