Lee Robert Sandford (born 22 April 1968) is an English former

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 ...

who made more than 480 first-team appearances as a defender. He played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

Career

Sandford was born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area ex ...

but moved to

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

where he trialed for the local team

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward ...

. He was spotted by scouts at

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

where Ball had gone to and he joined them for a fee of £140,000. He instantly became a regular at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

but was unable to prevent Stoke suffering relegation in 1989–90. Ball was feeling 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 Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Ken ...

's fitness regime's benefited Sandford greatly and he became a vital member of the team at Stoke. 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 The 1992 Associate Members' Cup Final, known as the Autoglass Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 9th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Third Division and Fourth Division. The final was played at Wembley Sta ...

. He played in 52 matches in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

as Stoke won the Second Division title. He remained at Stoke until the 1995–96 season which saw him playing in every match that season. He left Stoke in July 1996 for

after making 324 appearances for Stoke scoring 13 goals. As at Stoke, Sandford became popular with Blades fans, making 142 league starts for the

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. ...

outfit. He went on loan on two occasions while he was at United; firstly in 1997 Sandford played five matches for

and in 2001 he played seven matches for

. Released from his contract at the end of the 2001–02 season he had trials at

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

. Sandford finished his career at non-league

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

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.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

champions:

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

winner:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandford, Lee 1968 births Living people English footballers Sportspeople from Basingstoke Association football defenders Portsmouth F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Reading F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Woking F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Footballers from Hampshire