Having never made the first-team at Everton, on his doorstep, Lee Molyneux opted to drop down a division – to Championship Southampton. A full-back, not yet 20, Lee arrived at St Mary’s as “one for the future”. Unfortunately, the club’s immediate future turned out to be administration and then relegation – hardly a situation in which the younger players could be expected to grow in confidence. Yet, as new manager Alan Pardew brought in experienced players for the 2009-10 season in League One, youngsters like Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin were regulars in Pardew’s mix, while Molyneux failed to add to the four appearances he had made soon after his arrival.

After being released from his contract in the summer of 2010, he was given a six-month contract at Plymouth by Peter Reid, who hailed, like Lee, from Huyton. But then came serious trouble when he was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of violent assault. He served 17 months and when he came out was offered the chance by Accrington to resurrect his career. He moved on to Crewe after a good season with Stanley but was back to the Crown Ground for two loan spells during the 2013-14 season. He then joined Micky Adams’s Tranmere and played 11 games for them as they slid outside of the Football League.