Playing Career
Lee started his professional career with Bolton Wanderers, before Manchester City manager Joe Mercer signed him for £60,000 in October 1967, setting a club record transfer fee. He made his Manchester City debut in a 2–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Maine Road, and scored his first Manchester City goal the following week at Fulham. In his first season at the club he scored 16 League goals in 31 appearances, playing a crucial role in City's push for the 1967–68 League Championship; Mercer described him as "the final piece of the jigsaw". The title was decided on the final day of the season, City requiring a win at Newcastle United. City won the match 4–3, Lee scoring one of the goals, and were crowned champions. The following season Lee was part of the Manchester City team which won the 1969 FA Cup.
In the 1969–70 season, Lee was Manchester City's top scorer, an achievement he would subsequently match in each of the next four seasons. His tally that season included one of the most important goals of his career, a penalty in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup.
Lee represented England at the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico and was the first English player ever to be receive a card in a World Cup
In the 1971–72 season Lee set a British record for the number of penalties scored in a season, with 15 of his 35 goals scored from the penalty spot. Many of the penalties resulted from fouls on Lee, earning him the nickname Lee One Pen. Some journalists, holding the opinion that Lee gained a number of penalties by diving, used the name Lee Won Pen instead. Lee's name is often cited in debates about diving in football; referees' chief Keith Hackett described him as a player who "had a reputation of falling down easily".
Lee left Manchester City in August 1974, joining Derby County. For the second time in his career, Lee joined a team viewed as contenders for that season's league title. Lee was upset at Manchester City's decision to sell him, and in December marked his return to his former club by scoring the winning goal for Derby. Lee scored 33 league goals that season, making him the top scorer in the division, and his goals led Derby to their second League title and the second championship medal of Lee's career. On 1 November 1975, Lee had a confrontation with Leeds United defender Norman Hunter, which gained a level of infamy after it was screened on Match of the Day. Lee won and scored a penalty in the match, and Hunter accused Lee of winning the penalty unfairly. The pair then exchanged punches, and were both sent off. In 2003, the incident was named by The Observer as sport's most spectacular dismissal.
He also holds the record for the most goals in Manchester derbies, scoring 10 goals in all against Manchester United, a tally that equalled Joe Hayes' record.
Read more about this topic: Francis Lee
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