After gaining promotion back to Division One after a significant stint of seven years away, it was fair to say that Bob Stokoe’s men were struggling upon their return. By this time in 1976, the team had
played nine games (including a loss to Aston Villa on this day), leaving them in a perilous position.
The response to the poor start was for the club to try to bring in some new players, which included Barry Siddall and Alan Foggan. Among them was also striker Bob Lee, who joined the club for a whopping £200,000 and made his debut two weeks earlier against Everton.
Lee’s performance in that game – and generally in his previous club with Leicester City- sparked debate in the national media, and it was on this day that former Notts County manager Ron Fenton publicly questioned the player’s ability and attitude in his column in the Football Post.
Speaking in his column, Fenton said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘almost turned over his car’ when he heard on the radio to a game that Sunderland had spent this sum of money on him.
Fenton spoke of seeing Lee play as a youth player with Blaby Boys during his time as Notts County manager, where he stated that he didn’t seem to think he was up to the standard.

We felt Lee lacked pace and determination, and when these don’t come naturally to a youngster, it is often a hard thing to breed into them.
Lee began his career with Leicester City, and Fenton also spoke about in his article that he felt the player had a reputation without doing too much in his career. As he elaborated about his point, the writer stated that only he had done was a ‘goal a game run for six games’.
Whilst reinforcing that it wasn’t ‘sour grapes’, an astounded Fenton felt that Lee had to really improve his game at Roker Park, otherwise he would be ‘under immense pressure’ with the fans from the very start.
If he does not show the special quality to warrant the massive fee, the crowd will make it tough for him, and I hope that doesn’t happen for the sake of Lee and his manager.
As it transpired, Lee actually performed relatively well in his first season as he scored thirteen goals in thirty-three games, but that unfortunately was not enough to keep the team up despite their post-Christmas efforts under the stewardship of Jimmy Adamson.