FA Cup fifth round: For a country squire, Lee has a rare passion

Walsall's deceptively placid manager hungers for the Premiership as Fulham battle beckons

About half hour through an interview with Walsall's new manager Colin Lee, when the discussion turns to antique furniture and interior design, you wonder whether the resulting article would be more suited to the pages of Country Life.

He and his wife Lynda have just acquired a new home, the 16th time they have moved. It is a 17th century corn mill, and adjacent mill house, in Lichfield, Staffordshire. "I've always liked properties with water running through them," Lee says as he recites details with the enthusiasm of an estate agent. "There's an area we may turn into auction rooms and my daughter has a stable block for her and her fiancé. My son has an apartment in the top of the mill..."

So, why, the question is asked in some quarters, when he could be master of all he surveys in such an idyll, has Lee simultaneously moved into his third club as manager since the acrimonious split from his former associate Mark McGhee? Because wherever the former Tottenham and Chelsea striker travels, there will always be the slightly sniffy observation: "Of course, Colin Lee doesn't have to work."

"That's a fallacy," he says in a faint West Country burr. "If we wanted to buy a small cottage and live off what we've got we could do that, but that's not what we want. I'm OK, but I'm not what people think I am just because I once owned a big stately home. Everybody assumes I've got millions, but that's simply not the case.

"There are plenty of managers with a lot more money than me. I just enjoy working with players. Whether you've got £10 in the bank or a million, you still crave for that. It's your life.

Nevertheless, the assumption will always be that such outside interests diminish your hunger for success on the field. What does it matter to him, is the insinuation, if he fails to preserve Walsall's First Division status? Does he truly care if his team fail to overcome Fulham in Saturday's fifth-round FA Cup tie?

No one would contend that if they had been present at his team briefing last week at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall, which serves as Walsall's training ground. Especially following thatfamous victory over Premiership side Charlton, the defeat of an improving Wimbledon and a draw at promotion-hungry Millwall in his first three games in charge since Ray Graydon's controversial dismissal.

Lee, who at 45 harbours ambitions to manage in the Premiership, explains: "After Saturday's performance against Millwall that [training] session was a bit too relaxed and there wasn't enough concentration. I've told them that I won't put up with mediocrity. I'm a great admirer of Bill Shankly, who always said that 'over-confidence is a sign of ignorance'. That's what I was getting at."

Lest his reserved, controlled demeanour still fails to convince you, he stresses: "When I go out on to the training field I'm another person. People always thought that Mark McGhee was Mister Angry, but he was always the more placid one. I was the raving lunatic."

It's still difficult to imagine him losing it, you suggest. "You'd better believe it," Lee says forcefully. "When I first became a coach the lack of professionalism of certain players used to really wind me up." He laughs at a particular recollection: "I lost my rag one day at Reading [where he and McGhee began their partnership]. One day, we were short of players so I played in a reserve game at Charlton. We were losing 1-0, and there were certain things not happening that we'd worked on. One player came in for the brunt of that. He ended up hanging by his shirt from one of the dressing-room hooks."

Just as Bruce Wayne of stately Wayne Manor metamorphised as Batman when required, so Colin Lee, formerly of stately Hanch Hall, turns saviour when entrusted with beleaguered football clubs. Having preserved his home-town club Torquay's Football League status in the final nine games of last season, Walsall believe that those powers may prevent them from being relegated, too.

His stewardship of Wolves, of whom Lee took charge after McGhee was dismissed, was scarcely a failure either, having had his plans thwarted, first by the enforced sale of Robbie Keane and then the departure of Ade Akinbiyi.

It saddens him that since McGhee was sacked by Wolves in November 1998, the pair, who worked together at Reading, Leicester and at Molineux, have not spoken. Last Saturday, McGhee angrily refused to discuss his former partner after the 2-2 draw at the New Den.

"I worked with Mark as coach for nearly nine years and I think I helped him to become a good manager," says Lee. "I was as surprised as anyone when he was dismissed [by Wolves]. I thought I was going to get the sack as well. To a degree, it probably would have been better if I had have done. Then we wouldn't be in this stupid situation."

Lee, who says that he three times turned down offers to become manager at Reading in order to stay with McGhee, adds: "I thought I had his backing to take the job. But as far as going behind one of my best mates' back to get it, well, that's so far from the truth it's ridiculous. I believe that certain people at Wolves poisoned Mark's mind against me."

He prefers to turn his thoughts to the future, and the near future of Fulham's challenge. "They have got more flair players than Charlton, and those individuals can sometimes unlock you in a flash. I'm well aware of what [Louis] Saha and [Steve] Marlet can do. But in these one-off games anything can happen if you get the breaks. And we'll have opportunities to score, there's no doubt about that."

Opportunities are what the astute Lee has always thrived on, both within and outside the game. "As I became a better footballer and earned more money, I used to buy another house in a higher bracket," he explains. "It hasn't been easy. The most I ever earned as a player was £600 a week. But we just kept stepping up the ladder until we ended up buying a stately home."

That was Hanch Hall, also in Lichfield, originally a Jacobean hunting lodge, boasting 38 rooms. "We did a lot of work on it, but when I took over the job at Wolves we had to sell up because we didn't have time to maintain it."

Lee and his wife have also developed an interest in antiques. They believe the future is in selling older, expensive properties complete with antique furnishing. But that's another story. Perhaps for a publication with glossy pages. These merely welcome another episode of Walsall's Cup adventure.