Plenty of Newcastle United fans have hailed ‘legend‘ Rob Lee despite his cockney roots after the former central midfielder came third in a vote on the Magpies’ greatest ever Premier League player.
In an article from The Chronicle, Lee was voted in third place behind Alan Shearer and Peter Beardsley, two men with deep Geordie roots. David Ginola came in fourth whilst Hatem Ben Arfa, Laurent Robert and Shay Given rounded off the top eight.
The 54-year old made 303 appearances for Newcastle in all competitions, scoring 38 goals and providing three assists, according to Transfermarkt. He also managed 20 senior caps for the English national team, netting twice, as per the website. Lee also played for Derby County, Wycombe Wanderers, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic during his career in English football.
Despite Lee originally coming from London, many members of the Toon Army still classify him as a Geordie, as seen below. These Magpies hailed their former man on Twitter, with many supporters branding him a ‘legend’:
You were incredible mate. Very under rated in my opinion only us NUFC fans appreciate how good you were
— james meek (@james_meek86) April 6, 2020
Absolute legend up here Rob
— Marky G (@markygraham321) April 6, 2020
You are also a Geordie Legend @7RobLee
— Maurice Hall OBE (@moothall49) April 6, 2020
You might be a Cockney but your a adopted Geordie up here Rob
— Alan Caldwell (@alancaldwell71) April 6, 2020
Hey Geordie through and through my now @7RobLee don’t think you did to bad finishing 3rd and we hate all cockneys
— MarkDNUFC84 (@MarkDNUFC84) April 6, 2020
You’ll always be a Geordie ♥️
— Christine edwards (@Christi39066544) April 6, 2020