THREE players to have played for both Sunderland and Leicester City!

Martyn Waghorn

South Shields born Waghorn progressed through the ranks at Sunderland to make his first team debut under Roy Keane during a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United at the Stadium of Light on Boxing Day 2007.

Waghorn would be on the fringe of the Sunderland first team for the next two years, which resulted in successful loan spells with Charlton Athletic and later Leicester City where he impressed enough to convince the midlands club to part with a deal that had the potential to reach £3 million in 2010.

The forward would spend four years at the Walkers Stadium scoring 8 goals in 59 league appearances during a time when injury would impact his first team appearances and resulted in loan spells at Hull City, Milwall and Wigan Athletic. Waghorn would finally leave in a permanent move to Scotland in the form of Rangers in July 2015 who were aiming for promotion from the Scottish Championship and a return to the Scottish Premier League.

He would contribute twenty goals as Rangers achieved their goal and returned to the top flight after a four year absence. There, he continued to be a first team regular in the Scottish Premier League until he signed for Ipswich Town in the summer of 2017.

Waghorn would score 16 goals in his single season at Portman Road before Frank Lampard’s Derby County would offer a reported £5 million to take him to Pride Park where he is still part of the first team squad in his second season with the club.

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Steve Agnew

Born in Shipley, West Yorkshire, Steve Agnew began his football career in South Yorkshire with Barnsley where he would sign as a professional in 1983. Initially deployed as a striker in his youth, Agnew would go on to earn a reputation as a solid midfielder and first team regular at Oakwell until he signed for Blackburn Rovers in June 1991 for a club record fee of £750,000.

His time at Ewood Park would be plagued by injury, and he could only watch as Kenny Dalglish took over four months later and things started to take off for the Lancashire club. After two years and a handful of appearances, Agnew needed a fresh start and a £250,000 move to Leicester City kick started his career in February 1993. Agnew hit the ground running at Filbert Street as he captained the side to promotion in his first full season.

He would make over 50 league appearances in his two years in the East Midlands before joining Mick Buxton’s Sunderland in January 1995 for a bargain £250,000. Within months of signing for Sunderland, Peter Reid would take over from Mick Buxton and Agnew would play a vital role in Reid’s title winning side in 1995-96 where he contributed with 28 starting appearances. Memories of his wig during the promotion celebrations at Roker in 1996 will live long in the memory.

Away from league winning exploits, Agnew scored a memorable goal at Old Trafford, levelling an FA Cup 3^rd round tie 1-1 that would end 2-2 with a last minute Eric Cantona goal after Craig Russell had given Sunderland the lead.

Mirroring Sunderland’s poor first season in the Premier League, Agnew’s season was also disappointing. Utilised mainly on the right of midfield he struggled to maintain a regular starting position. The following season he began the season with a place in the starting XI but suffered a serious Achilles injury after four appearances that would end his season.

Released from Sunderland in the summer of 1998, Agnew retired after three years at York City and a brief spell at Gateshead in 2002 where he immediately made the move into coaching, becoming assistant manager.

Since then, Agnew has held various coaching positions including assistant manager at Middlesbrough, Hartlepool United, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and is currently part of Steve Bruce’s backroom staff at Newcastle United.

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Bob Lee

Born in Melton Mowbray in 1953, Lee joined his local side Leicester City, signing as a professional in 1972. By the mid-1970’s he would become a first choice centre-forward at Filbert Street and would go on to score 17 goals in 63 league appearances for the club in his first four years as a professional.

He joined Sunderland for a club record fee of £200,000 in September 1976, and despite Sunderland ultimately failing to beat the drop, Lee would end the season as top scorer with an impressive thirteen league goals.

Without ever fully living up to his record price tag, he would go to average a goal every three games over the next two years as Sunderland failed to achieve promotion back to the First Division until leaving at the beginning of the 1979-80 season for Bristol Rovers.

After brief spells with Carlisle United and Darlington, Lee retired in 1984, later becoming a pub landlord in the Melton Mowbray area during the 1990’s.

Sunderland Echo