Lee Payne

Who is Lee Payne?

Lee John Payne is an English former professional footballer and currently a football agent. He played as a left-winger in both England and the Netherlands.

Payne joined Luton Town as a school boy, but was later released as an eighteen-year-old. His first senior appearance in football came with Hitchin Town in 1985 and after a successful spell there he moved on to Barnet, helping them to second place in the Conference at the end of the 1987-88 season.

The following season Lee was sold to Newcastle United for a non league record transfer fee of £125,000 and in October of that season made his football league debut against Middlesbrough in a 3-1 victory at St James Park. He went on to make seven appearances for the Magpies before moving to Reading in March 1989 for a transfer fee of £60,000.

After making 36 appearances and scoring 3 goals Payne moved to Dutch first division side BV Veendam in 1990 where in his first season became BV Veendam's player of the year making 32 appearances and scoring 12 goals. In 1991/92 Payne was transferred for a sum of around £100,000 to rival Dutch club FC Emmen where he spent three seasons before returning to BV Veendam for a further season only to be forced to end his playing career in 1996 through a serious knee injury.