Lee McCulloch

Football player infobox
playername = Lee McCulloch


fullname = Lee Henry McCulloch
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|5|14
cityofbirth = Bellshill
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub = Rangers
clubnumber = 12
height = height|m=1.85
position = Midfielder
years = 1995–2001
2001–2007
2007–
clubs = Motherwell
Wigan Athletic
Rangers
caps(goals) = 123 (21)
224 (44)
024 0(3)
nationalyears = 2004–2008
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 016 0(1)
pcupdate = 10 September, 2008
ntupdate =

Lee Henry McCulloch (born May 14 1978 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish professional football player who currently plays for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League and was capped on 16 ocassions by the Scotland national football team.

Club career

Motherwell

Lee McCulloch started his career as a striker at Cumbernauld United, having previously played at Rangers boys club alongside Barry Ferguson. He was spotted by Motherwell and signed for them in the summer of 1996. McCulloch went on to score 27 goals in 143 appearances after making his debut against Raith Rovers on 24 August 1996. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=241781 "Raith 0-3 Motherwell"] Soccerbase, 26 April, 2008] He scored his first and second goals in a league match against Hibernian on 31 January 1998. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=248491 "Motherwell 6-2 Hibernian"] Soccerbase, 26 April, 2008]

After netting 12 and 10 goals in consecutive seasons for Motherwell, along with some impressive performances other clubs began to take notice of the young striker.

Wigan Athletic

He signed for Wigan Athletic in March 2001 for £700,000,cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1197268.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Well duo sign for Wigan
date=March 2, 2001] a then club signing record. Wigan at this point were plying their trade in the third tier of English football, but were strongly ambitious, and saw the young Scotsman as part of their long term plans. He made his debut against Swindon Town on 3 March 2001 and scored his first goal for the club four weeks later, in a 2-1 win away to Wycombe Wanderers.

During his English league career, McCulloch found himself operating more and more in a left midfield role , and indeed this is the position he mainly played in during Wigan's first season in the Premier League in 2005-06. Although rarely played as an out-and-out striker that term, he still weighed in with five league goals in thirty appearances, helping Wigan to a 10th place finish.

In January 2007, McCulloch was the subject of a £750,000 bid by Rangers. It was turned down by Wigan and labelled "derisory" by Paul Jewell. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/6270019.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Wigan snub McCulloch transfer bid|date=17 January 2007]

In May 2007, McCulloch told BBC Sport that he would relish the opportunity to play for Rangers, and the new manager at Wigan Athletic advised him that he may leave to move back to Scotland.citenews|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/6685113.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=McCulloch would Relish Rangers move] On June 23, Rangers had a bid of £1.5million rejected with Wigan said to want £2.5m for McCulloch, who had notched 46 goals in 241 matches for them.

Rangers

On 11 July 2007, Rangers revealed that they had agreed an undisclosed fee with Wigan. After agreeing personal terms and passing a medical, he signed a four-year deal later in the day with a transfer fee of £2.25m to join his boyhood heroescitenews|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6242590.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers seal McCulloch transfer] . McCulloch started his Rangers career with a goal on his debut in a two-nil victory over FK Zeta on 31 July 2007.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6922795.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers 2-0 FK Zeta |date=31 July 2007] Since joining Rangers, Lee has found himself switching wings and mainly operating on the right-hand side. Though a calculated risk by manager Walter Smith, Lee has performed well in his new role and was asked to play right wing for Scotland.

On December 23 in a match with Aberdeen, McCulloch was sent off after 37 minutes after jumping at Aberdeen's Scott Severin as a mass brawl started, after Aberdeen's Chris Clark had scythed down Rangers defender Alan Hutton. McCulloch was the only player to be dismissed in the heated match.

International career

McCulloch earned his first international call-up to the Scotland national side in 2004, under the then manager Berti Vogts, and made his debut as a late substitute in a 1-1 draw with Moldova,cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/3730218.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Moldova 1-1 Scotland|date=13 October, 2004] a match which transpired to be Vogts' last match as manager.

Since the appointment of Walter Smith in 2004, he has featured in the squad intermittently. He featured in Smith's first three matches as manager against Italy, Moldova and Belarus and was involved in the Kirin Cup matches against Bulgaria and Japan. He played in Scotland's famous 1-0 win over France in October 2006cite news
title = Scotland v France
url = http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/match_details.cfm?matchid=62505
publisher = The SFA Website
date = 14 November, 2007] and then in the equally famous reverse fixture, which Scotland also won 1-0. cite news
title = France v Scotland
url = http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/match_details.cfm?matchid=64530
publisher = The SFA Website
date = 14 November, 2007]

He scored his first international goal in Scotland's Euro 2008 qualifying win over Ukraine. cite news
title = Scotland v Ukraine
url = http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/match_details.cfm?matchid=64531
publisher = The SFA Website
date = 14 November, 2007] It was the second goal in a 3-1 victory at Hampden Park in October 2007. McCulloch retired from international football on 8 September 2008 as he wanted to concentrated on his club commitments. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7604890.stm "McCulloch quits Scotland set-up"] BBC Sport website (8 September 2008)]

International goals

:"Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first."

Honours

With Wigan Athletic

With Rangers

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=9237|name=Lee McCulloch
*SFA Profile|id=15175|name=Lee McCulloch

Persondata
NAME=McCulloch, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Scottish footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=14 May, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH=Bellshill, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=