Sharpe: Lee Stuart (Lee)

1996-1999 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Left Winger

Born: Halesowen: 27-05-1971

Debut v Derby County (a): 17-08-1996

6’0” 12st 7lb (2000)

A midlander and Aston Villa fan, Sharpe started with local side Stourbridge Falcons he signed schoolboy forms with Birmingham City at the age of fifteen, but a trial for Fourth Division Torquay United, at sixteen, saw him join the Plainmoor club on a two year apprenticeship and sign professional forms for them on his seventeenth birthday. He made his debut as a sixteen year old, coming on with twenty-five minutes to go as the substitute left winger on 3rd October 1987 at Exeter City in a 1-0 away win. After scoring three goals in nine League starts and five games from the bench, and two starts and three games from the bench, without scoring, in other games, he was still only seventeen, when he was signed by Alex Ferguson for Manchester United on 10th June 1988 for £185,000. It was a record fee for a trainee at that time. He soon broke into the first team, making his debut in the First Division in a 2-0 win over West Ham at Old Trafford on 24th September 1988. He initially played out of position at left back before getting the left wing spot in the 1990-91 season. He was called up into the England Under-Twenty-One side, making his debut in a 0-1 defeat by Greece at Patras on 7th February 1989, when still only seventeen. He had to wait for more than a year before he picked up his second cap, but he quickly added four more as England won the 1990 Toulon Trophy. He came on as a substitute for Stuart Slater as England were beaten 0-1 by Portugal at Six-Fours-les-plages on 21st May 1990. However, two days later they routed the host nation, France, by 7-3 and Sharpe played a full game. They sealed their place in the Final by defeating USSR 2-1 at Stade Moyol, Toulon on 25th May and this time Sharpe started but gave way to Stuart Slater. They won the Final two days later at the Stade Bon Rencontre, Toulon, by defeating Czechoslovakia 2-1 with Sharpe playing the whole game. He was replaced by Chris Vinnicombe after starting his sixth game at the Dell on 11th September 1990, as England beat Hungary in a friendly. He took his tally to eight in the group games for the European Under Twenty-One Championships. He came on as a fiftieth minute substitute for Carl Tiler in a 0-1 defeat by Poland at White Hart Lane on 16th October 1990 before his final cap saw him play a full game in the 3-0 win over the Republic of Ireland at Turners Cross, Cork, on 13th November 1990. He played a key part in United's success in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1990-91 and scored a hat-trick against Arsenal at Highbury in the 1990 League Cup. United won that game 6–2 and Sharpe cited the game as one of the best memories in his footballing career. Having established himself as a left winger, Sharpe earned a call up to the England squad, although he was unable to oust John Barnes as first choice left winger. But he did make his England debut as a half-time substitute for Tony Adams in a Group Seven UEFA European Championship 1-1 home draw with the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on 27th March 1991. Sharpe would have been a regular first team player were it not for injury and Ryan Giggs, who also played on Sharpe's preferred left-wing position. However, he would still manage to win a lot of medals and these started with the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup, the 1992 League Cup, and he also gained his only England "B" cap on 28th April 1992 against C.I.S. (Russia) at the Torpedo Stadium, Moscow, when he started but gave way to Matthew Le Tissier at half-time. He was recalled to the England team for the World Cup and played in two qualifiers in a 2-0 over Turkey at the Ataturk Stadium in Izmir, where he came on as an eighty-fifth minute replacement for Ian Wright on 31st March 1993, and then on 2nd June he played a full game as England went down 0-2 to Norway at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. His fourth cap came in a US Cup tournament, and was quickly followed by two more in the same competition as on 9th June 1993 England were beaten 0-2 by the host nation at Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts, four days later there was a 1-1 draw with Brazil at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington D.C. and then a loss to Germany by 1-2 at the Silverdome Staium, Pontiac, Michiganon 19th June, when he was replaced at half-time by Nigel Winterburn. He played his final two games, to take his full caps to eight, in the Group Two World Cup qualifiers as he played full games in both, as England beat Poland 3-0 at Wembley on 8th September 1993 but then were beaten 0-2 by the Netherlands on 13th October at the "De Kuip" Feyenoord Stadium. Rotterdam. He may have involuntarily vacated the international scene, but he atill accumulated more honours as United went from strength to strength and he picked up three Premiership Champions medals in four years as Sharpe picked up medals in 1993, 1994 and 1996 and also added an F.A. Cup winners medal in 1994. He was famous for doing an Elvis impersonation at the corner flag when he scored a goal and for getting lots of fan mail from female admirers. Unfortunately, he had been out of the game for long periods of time through injury and illness. He suffered from viral meningitis, and when his fitness recovered, the form of Ryan Giggs meant he had to play out of position at left back or on the right wing, competing for a place with Andrei Kanchelsis. Illness sidelined him for much of the 1996 season and the emergence of David Beckham and Paul Scholes left little place for him in the Old Trafford first team. In total he played two hundred and sixty-three games, including fifty-two as a substitute, for the Red Devils during eight years there, scoring thirty-six goals. Despite his injury history, Leeds signed him for £4.5 million on 12th August 1996, making him their record signing. Misfortune seemed to befall him at every turn. First, the manager who signed him, Howard Wilkinson, was sacked early into the first season. He was replaced by George Graham, who made no bones that he did not want players with flair, but rather those with a defensive attitude. Therefore Sharpe faced an uphill battle to establish himself. When it seemed that he was winning Graham over, he snapped his cruciate ligament and was out for the best part of a year. When he returned, David O’Leary was in charge. A poor performance against Roma was all the excuse he needed to tell Sharpe " you’re not getting up and down the wing like you used to”. Again his time at United was beset by further injuries. He made twenty-six Premiership appearances in 1996-97, scoring five goals, but a pre-season knee injury ruled him out for the entire 1997-98 season and he was unable to regain his place in the team on recovery. In December 1998, he was loaned to Italian Serie-A strugglers Sampdoria, but soon fell out of favour and on 23rd March 1999, after just three appearances, he returned to Elland Road. He immediately signed on loan for Bradford City and scored twice in the League, in six starts and three games from the bench, as he helped in securing the club's promotion to the Premiership after seventy-seven years outside the top division. He joined Bradford in a £250,000 deal on 15th June 1999 and helped preserve the club's Premiership status in 1999-2000. In 2000-01, Sharpe lost his place in the Bradford team and on 1st February 2001 he went on loan to Division One Portsmouth for the rest of the season, making seventeen appearances, without scoring, for the Fratton Park team. He returned to Bradford for the 2001-02 season but when his contract expired at the end of the season he was given a free transfer. At Valley Parade, after signing permanently, he scored twice in forty-seven League games, including seventeen from the bench. He also made eight starts and two games from the bench in Cup and other games without scoring. After an unproductive trial with Grimsby Town, he had a brief spell at Exeter City, who he joined on 12th August 2002, on a free transfer and scored once in four starts. This was followed by a move to Grindavik in Iceland, where he featured in just seven games. In September 2003 he announced his retirement from first class football at the age of thirty-two, due to a back problem. He then went on to become a reality TV star and media personality. During 2003-04, Sharpe made a brief return to football in the Kidderminster Sunday League before signing for Northern Counties East Premier League side Garforth Town the following summer. There he scored six goals in twenty-one appearances.