Lee Ashcroft

Football player infobox
playername = Lee Ashcroft


fullname = Lee Ashcroft
nickname = Peggy
height = 5' 10" (1.78m)
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|9|7
cityofbirth = Preston, Lancashire
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Kendal Town
position = Winger / Striker
years = 1987–1993
1993–1996
1995
1996
1996–1997
1998–2000
2000–2002
2002
2002
2003–2004
2004
2004–
clubs = Preston North End
West Bromwich Albion
→ Notts County (loan)
→ Preston North End (loan)
Preston North End
Grimsby Town
Wigan Athletic
→ Port Vale (loan) → Huddersfield Town (loan)
Southport
→ Chorley (loan)
Kendal Town
caps(goals) = 91 (13)
90 (17)
06 0(0)
07 0(3)
57 (19)
61 (15)
46 0(8)
03 0(0)
04 0(0)
22 0(8)
0? 0(?)
nationalyears = 1992
nationalteam = England U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 01 (0)

Lee Ashcroft is a former England under-21 professional footballer who now plays as a striker and manages Kendal Town F.C. of the Northern Premier League premier division.

Club career

He made his Football League debut aged 18 in 1990 for Preston North End F.C.. He played for England U-21s whilst at Preston. In August 1993 he moved to West Bromwich Albion for £250,000. He scored a vital headed goal on the final day of the 1993-94 season, in a 1-0 win at Portsmouth, to keep Albion in Division One. [cite book | last=McOwan | first=Gavin | title=The Essential History of West Bromwich Albion | publisher=Headline | year=2002 | pages = p. 160 | isbn=0-7553-1146-9] Ashcroft was loaned out to Notts County in 1995. He was loaned out again in 1996, this time to his former club Preston North End, whom he then re-joined on a permanent deal.

After Preston, Ashcroft moved to Grimsby Town for £500,000. He was not a particularly popular figure at Grimsby, due mainly to a poor first season during which he was frequently injured, and did no justice to his large transfer fee, which is still the Grimsby record. [cite web
last=Hubbert
first=Richard
date=2001-08-06
url=http://grimsbytown.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=909&stid=8157932&p=2
title=Played for the Town: Lee Ashcroft
publisher=ElectronicFishcake.com
accessdate=2007-05-01] In his second season, he found form and started scoring goals, but a falling out with his manager, Alan Buckley, led to a cut-price transfer at the end of the season, when he moved to Wigan Athletic for £350,000. [cite news
date=2000-08-04
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/866442.stm
title=Latics sign new striker
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01]

While at Wigan, Ashcroft was loaned out to Port Vale in October 2002, [cite news
date=2002-10-09
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/port_vale/2313887.stm
title=Vale set for Ashcroft signing
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01] followed by another loan move, to Huddersfield Town in December of the same year. [cite news
date=2002-12-09
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/huddersfield_town/2559215.stm
title=Terriers snap up Ashcroft
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01] Huddersfield were so short of funds at the time that the loan could only go through when a wealthy supporter agreed to pay Ashcroft's wages. [cite news
date=2002-12-13
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/huddersfield_town/2573221.stm
title=Fan pays striker's salary
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01] Wigan eventually released Ashcroft on 6 February 2003, signalling the end of a professional career in which he had scored a total of 75 league goals. [cite news
date=2003-02-06
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/2734099.stm
title=Wigan release Ashcroft
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01] Later in the month he moved down to non-league Southport, taking up the role of player-coach at the age of 30. [cite news
date=2003-02-28
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southport/2807797.stm
title=Southport appoint Ashcroft
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-01] A year later he moved to Kendal where he scored 23 goals in the 2004-05 season. In November 2006, Ashcroft, the club captain, was appointed manager. [cite news
url=http://www.kendaltownfc.co.uk/archives/index.html
title=Kendal Town History - 2006/7 update
publisher=kendaltownfc.co.uk
accessdate=2007-05-01]

England Under 21s

On 12 May 1992 in Budapest, Lee came on as a substitute for his only Under-21 cap against Hungary in a 2-2 draw. He played alongside several future full internationals including Ian Walker and Andy Cole. [cite web
last=Courtney
first=Barrie
date=2004-01-10
url=http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-u21-intres86.html
title=England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details
publisher=RSSSF
accessdate=2007-05-01]

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=256|name=Lee Ashcroft