Lee Patrick George Elam (born 24 September 1976) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He is currently manager of Eccleshill United.

Career

Elam was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, West Yorkshire and began his footballing career in 1998 with

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. During his four years with the team, he played in 104 first team games in which he scored 15 goals. After leaving Southport at the end of the 2001–02 season, Elam joined fellow Conference side

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

. During the 2002–03 season Elam made 40 appearances for the Shrimps, scoring 13 goals. After only one season at Morecambe, Elam joined conference side

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

for the beginning of the 2003–04 season. On 31 October 2003 after only 15 appearances for the Shaymen, Elam moved to League Two side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

. Elam made only 12 appearances for the Glovers before moving on loan to then Conference side Chester City for the remainder of the 2003–04 season, acting as a bit-part player as the side sealed the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

title. At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Elam signed with now defunct

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

side

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

. After only six months Elam signed with conference side

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

on 5 November 2004. Elam made only one appearance during the month of November for the Brewers before moving back to Morecambe for the remainder of the season. Elam began the 2005–06 season with Conference side

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

where he made five appearances before moving on 27 September 2005 to Conference South side Weymouth. Weymouth finished the 2005–06 season as Conference South champions and were promoted to the Conference National. Elam made 23 appearances for Weymouth during the 2006–07 season before the entire first team was transfer listed on 10 January 2007 after the club decided to cut their financial costs. He was picked up on a free transfer by neighbouring Conference side

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 15 January 2007. His first match for Exeter was against his former club Weymouth, in which he scored a hat-trick. He was released by the club in May 2008 and subsequently trained with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

in July. He played for York in a 1–1 draw against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in a pre-season friendly and earned the chance to play again against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. York manager Colin Walker was unable to offer Elam a contract, but failed to rule out signing him eventually. He later confirmed that Elam would not sign for the club. He eventually joined

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

on a part-time basis, where he would coach youngsters. In January 2009, Elam requested to leave Altrincham and joined

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

on non-contract terms. He made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which runs eas ...

. In 2010, Elam left Northwich Victoria having made 41 appearances for the side, scoring no goals, and joined

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

. Elam's Stalybridge career, as with Northwich, lasted only one season; appearing 29 times and scoring three goals for the club, he moved on in summer 2011 to

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Harrogate Hotspurs were fou ...

, where he made his debut on 16 August 2011 in a 3–2 loss to Stalybridge at

Bower Fold Bower Fold in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England, is the home ground of Stalybridge Celtic F.C., Stalybridge Celtic Association football, football club and, intermittently, Oldham R.L.F.C., Oldham rugby league club. History There has been ...

. In 2013 he had brief spells at Bradford Part Avenue and

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

, before signing for Albion Sports.

Coaching career

After working worked as a youth coach at

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, Elam he was appointed manager of Eccleshill United in May 2019. He resigned as Eccleshill manager in June 2022. He returned to the club as manager in May 2023.

Career statistics

Source
Soccerbase

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elam, Lee 1976 births Living people Footballers from Bradford English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football wingers Southport F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Hornchurch F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Albion Sports A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Bradford City A.F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Eccleshill United F.C. managers