Lee Sandford

Lee Robert Sandford (born 22 April 1968) is an English former footballer who made more than 480 first-team appearances as a defender. He played in the Football League for Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sheffield United, Reading and Stockport County.[1]

Lee Sandford
Personal information
Full name Lee Robert Sandford[1]
Date of birth (1968-04-22) 22 April 1968[1]
Place of birth Lambeth, England[1]
Height 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1989 Portsmouth 72 (1)
1989–1996 Stoke City 258 (8)
1996–2002 Sheffield United 151 (4)
1997 → Reading (loan) 5 (0)
2001 → Stockport County (loan) 7 (0)
2002–2003 Woking 12 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Sandford was born in Lambeth but moved to Basingstoke where he trialed for the local team Basingstoke Town. He was spotted by scouts at Portsmouth and signed on as a professional in December 1985. His coach was Alan Ball and once Ball had replaced Bobby Campbell as manager he promoted Sandford to the first team. He made 90 appearances for Pompey in five seasons before new manager John Gregory made it clear he did not want him in the first team. So Sandford received an offer from Stoke City where Ball had gone to and he joined them for a fee of £140,000.

He instantly became a regular at the Victoria Ground but was unable to prevent Stoke suffering relegation in 1989–90.[1] Ball was felling the wrath of the Stoke support as did most of his signings and Ball was sacked in January 1991 as Stoke went on to finish in their lowest ever position in 1990–91. New manager Lou Macari's fitness regime's benefited Sandford greatly and he became a vital member of the team at Stoke.[1] From left-back he would provide great service for the pacey Mark Stein to run on to and provided him with the winning goal in the 1992 Football League Trophy Final. He played in 52 matches in 1992–93 as Stoke won the Second Division title.[1] He remained at Stoke until the 1995–96 season which saw him playing in every match that season.[1] He left Stoke in July 1996 for Sheffield United after making 324 appearances for Stoke scoring 13 goals.[1]

As at Stoke, Sandford became popular with Blades fans, making 142 league starts for the Bramall Lane outfit.[2] He went on loan on two occasions while he was at United; firstly in 1997 Sandford played five matches for Reading and in 2001 he played seven matches for Stockport County.[3] Released from his contract at the end of the 2001–02 season he had trials at Bournemouth[4] and Mansfield Town.[5] Sandford finished his career at non-league Woking before retiring.

Personal life

After retiring from football, Sandford set up his own stock trading coaching business. www.tradingcollege.co.uk. In 2014, he released his autobiography titled: Goals To Gold.[6]

Career statistics

Source:[7]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Portsmouth 1985–86 Second Division 70104110131
1986–87 Second Division 0000000000
1987–88 First Division 221102000251
1988–89 First Division 310202020370
1989–90 First Division 130003000160
Total 7214011130902
Stoke City 1989–90 Second Division 232100000242
1990–91 Third Division 322313020403
1991–92 Third Division 3802030103533
1992–93 Second Division 422214040523
1993–94 First Division 421403050541
1994–95 First Division 351203060461
1995–96 First Division 460203040550
Total 258816219031332413
Sheffield United 1996–97 First Division 302103020362
1997–98 First Division 150610020231
1998–99 First Division 350404000430
1999–2000 First Division 431203000481
2000–01 First Division 221103000261
2001–02 First Division 6020000080
Total 1514161120401835
Reading (loan) 1997–98 First Division 5000000050
Stockport County (loan) 2001–02 First Division 7000000070
Woking 2002–03 Football Conference 120000000120
Career Total 5051336342138362120
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Football League play-offs, Football League Trophy.

Honours
Stoke City
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References
  1. Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287-55-4.
  2. Lowe, Simon (6 May 2008). "The Potters tale". Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  3. "Sheffield United FC 1996–2002". sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  4. "Phillips predicts bright future". BBC Sport. 1 August 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  5. "Christie set for Stags". BBC Sport. 7 August 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  6. "Lee Sandford takes stock and shares his life in autobiography". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  7. Lee Sandford at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
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