Lee is First Division's newest manager

Last updated : 24 January 2002 By Tony Scholes

He will take up his duties immediately having left his current employer Wigan Athletic where he had been working as a coach. After a playing career, which peaked at Chelsea, he went into coaching and eventually joined up with Mark McGhee at Reading. He moved with McGhee to both Leicester and Wolves and took over as manager when McGhee was sacked at Molineux.

He himself was sacked at Wolves just before the end of 2000 to be replaced by David Jones and after a short time out of the game took over at one of his old clubs from his playing days, Torquay United. He just managed to keep them in the league on the last day of the season and looked all set to become the permanent manager but that didn't materialise.

He finally joined Wigan as a coach and has been with them until this appointment following the sacking that has rocked the game. Sky presenter Chris Kamara, and we always respect his views here, described Graydon's sacking as an absolute joke. Lee will have a difficult time at the Bescot with the supporters stunned at the loss of Ray Graydon.

The Walsall board appear happy with their actions and today's appointment and chairman Mike Lloyd said, "We had to move quickly, and we feel that Colin meets the criteria we were looking for. He has a wealth of coaching and managerial experience, knows the first division scene, and his record proves that he is quite capable of achieving some outstanding results."