Tim Lees
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Timothy Martin Lees | ||
| Date of birth | 24 January 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Billinge, Merseyside, England | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Bury (interim manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| Everton | |||
| Bolton Wanderers | |||
| Stalybridge Celtic | |||
| 2007 | Leek Town | ||
| 2008–2009 | Wingate & Finchley | 61 | (9) |
| 2009 | AFC Hayes | 27 | (6) |
| 2012 | Radcliffe Borough[1] | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2025– | Bury (interim) | ||
Timothy Martin Lees (born 24 January 1986) is an English football player and football coach. He is interim manager of Bury.
Club career
[edit | edit source]Lees progressed through the Centre of Excellence at Everton and Bolton Wanderers before being released at schoolboy ages.[2] His recorded semi-professional clubs include Stalybridge Celtic,[3][4][5] Wingate & Finchley, AFC Hayes,[6] and Radcliffe Borough.[7]
Coaching career
[edit | edit source]Lees was employed as Technical Coach for Pepsi in 2007, working on worldwide events with players including David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho. In 2008 he worked as Youth Development Phase Lead at England's first full-time training model at Watford[2] FC Academy with the 12-16 age groups. In 2010, he moved to Wigan Athletic where he was Head of Youth Development Phase working under Roberto Martinez for three years. In 2013 he took an offer to move to Liverpool football club[8] as part of Brendan Rodgers' academy restructure working alongside Michael Beale, Pepijn Lijnders and Alex Inglethorpe.
Lees was recruited by Kevin Kalish to become Academy Director at North America's St Louis City SC in 2015. Lees managed the u17 and u19 USA Development Programme and was also First Team coach at St Louis. In the club announcement, President Kevin Kalish said “Our academy staff visited Liverpool's academy in England and in Tim, we have found one of the very best youth developers in the world. He has led the pathway of many players who have gone on to play both Internationally and at Premier League level. He will lead our pursuit in becoming the number one club in the country.” The club went on to produce several Youth Internationals, homegrown MLS players and won their first US National Championship in 2017.
Lees returned to England in 2019 during the Covid-19 epidemic and became First Team Coach at Warrington Rylands, owned by Wayne Rooney's agent Paul Stretford, winning back-to-back promotions and the FA Vase at Wembley Stadium.
In 2023, he was named as Assistant Manager at Bury, where the club achieved promotion as England’s highest scoring club across all divisions for the 2024/25 season.
On 18 December 2025, Lees was named as interim manager for the remainder of the 2025/26 season.[9]
Other career
[edit | edit source]Lees played for England semi-professional Budweiser team at the FIFA 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, selected and managed by Jamie Redknapp.[2][10] He was later chosen to represent Great Britain in the Channel 4 2006 TV series The Pepsi Max World Challenge, chosen from a pool of 17,000 entrants and open to players not signed to professional football clubs.[2] The series had a $100,000 prize for the winning country and involved David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Carlos Puyol, Roberto Carlos and Alessandro Nesta. The show, presented and narrated by Vernon Kay, took place in Rio De Janeiro, Milan, London, Madrid and Cairo. Lees has also directed and choreographed several football commercials and advertisements.
References
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- ^ https://www.burytimes.co.uk/sport/football/shakers/shakersupdates/25707022.lees-named-bury-boss-end-season-following-jolley-backlash/
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- 1986 births
- Living people
- English men's footballers
- Atherton Collieries A.F.C. players
- Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players
- Leek Town F.C. players
- Wingate & Finchley F.C. players
- Brook House F.C. players
- Wigan Athletic F.C. non-playing staff
- Watford F.C. non-playing staff
- Radcliffe F.C. players
- Harlow Town F.C. players
- Alumni of the University of Greater Manchester
- Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff
- People from Billinge, Merseyside
- Footballers from Merseyside
- Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens
- Men's association football midfielders
- 21st-century English sportsmen