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Is there life after football?
28NOVPeter Hanson speaks to former Sheffield Wednesday captain Lee Bullen about his career in the game, his new role as director of an estate agency, whether he will take on a coaching job in the future and why ex-professionals find it so difficult to move on from the beautiful game.
It’s a typical Starbucks scene on Sheffield’s Ecclesall Road. Students fretting over that crucial presentation. Men and women on laptops finishing that busy report or writing that important article. People relaxing with the day’s newspaper. All of them invigorated by that distinct coffee-shop aroma. Then there enters a man in an impeccable suit. It’s a far cry from the blue and white stripes that Wednesday fans became used to seeing Lee Bullen wear with such distinction. You see Lee has just begun a new career as a director of Spencer’s Estate Agency after leaving his post as Assistant Manager at Falkirk.
Despite enjoying his time back in Scottish football Lee made a conscious decision to leave due to financial constraints at the club, “This year at Falkirk it was cuts and more cuts. The average wage at Falkirk is £350 a week. People look at footballers and think it’s all supercars and big houses but in reality that’s a small minority at the top end of the Premier League. I’ve got kids from a previous relationship and you have to look after your family and make a decision with your head not your heart.” Lee reserves special praise for manager and former Scottish international Steven Pressley and has no doubt that he will become a top coach, “It was brilliant working with Steven. He will be a brilliant manager. He’s young and if given the opportunity there’s no reason why he can’t come to England and follow in the footsteps of other Scottish managers like Malky Mackay and Derek McInnes.”
By leaving Falkirk Lee made a brave choice to step away from a game he so dearly loves but he is approaching the challenge with as much enthusiasm as he did when he played the game, he said “I’ve had experience of the real world. I worked at Alliance and Leicester for five years so I know the nine to five thing. There are no fears for me. It’s a new opportunity. When you take over as a boss and an owner and you invest your own money in it you don’t want to do it half-hearted.”
I asked how difficult it is as an ex-professional to stop playing the game and in Lee’s case to enter the “real” world, he said “It is difficult to step away completely I miss the madness of the training ground and the boys together type attitude but I was very lucky that I managed to get involved with the coaching side of things. Burton O’Brien, who I played with at Wednesday and who we had at Falkirk, was released at the end of this season due to financial reasons. So I look at Burton’s situation and I look at my own and I think I was very lucky to have the opportunity to stay in football.”
Lee also offers his thoughts on why there have been high-profile cases of footballers struggling to adjust to life after football, “To be honest the majority of players at the top level of football have never done anything else. They’ve finished school and become professional footballers. The majority of players when they finish playing football aren’t lucky enough to stay in the game. They have to find a new career; they have mortgages to pay and kids to feed so I think it’s a shock to the system, instead of two hours a day training suddenly they have to get up at 7 in the morning and work nine to five.”
Lee hasn’t completely walked away from football. He has a new scouting role at Watford following a conversation with an ex-Falkirk colleague now at the North London side. I asked Lee if he could ever see himself returning to a coaching or even a management role, he said “It would have to be a good opportunity with good future prospects and a team that’s up and coming. Steven (Pressley) has already said that if he comes to England he would like me there as his number two. At the moment I have an obligation to the company if I jump ship after three months then you know it’s not doing the company justice. It’s a difficult balancing act but the company has a good reputation, it’s doing well so that may allow me to take a step back in the future.”
Lee’s playing career saw him travel the world and he counts Hong Kong, Australia and Greece as countries where he has plied his trade. At the end of our interview we discuss what these experiences have taught him and how he would try and use these skills in a managerial position. He also has a great awareness of the perils of social media on the modern game but showed a fondness for its use in the modern world. Lee is living proof that there is life after football but don’t be too surprised to see that suave suit adorn English touchlines in the future.
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