and followed McGhee to Leicester a few months later. When McGhee ended his year-long reign at Filbert Street to take charge of Wolves, Lee again followed. Wolves During Lee's time as assistant manager, Wolves were semi-finalists in the Division One play-offs and the FA Cup, and Lee was promoted to the manager's seat in November 1998, after McGhee was sacked. His initial caretaker spell beginning with a 6–1 win against Bristol City at Ashton Gate. The next two seasons saw Wolves just miss out on the Division One play-offs, and he was sacked in December 2000 with the Midlanders struggling in the bottom half of the division. His task was not helped by the sale of several key players, including top scorer Ade Akinbiyi, towards the end of his spell as Wolves manager. After leaving Molineux, he joined Leeds United as a scout, a job he held until March 2001, when he was called in by Torquay United chairman Mike Bateson as a consultant to the under pressure manager Wes Saunders in a desperate battle to keep Torquay out of the Conference. When Saunders was sacked soon after (on 28 March 2001), Lee took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season, and guided the side to the heights of 21st place and safety thanks to a nerve-wracking win at Barnet on the final day of the season which saw Barnet relegated. Torquay United After much negotiating at the end of the season, Lee verbally agreed to become the new manager of Torquay. However, on 2 July, the day on which he was expected to formally sign his contract, he turned down the offer, leaving Torquay managerless less than a week before the start of pre-season training. The reason he gave that he was still looking for a job at a higher level, although in November 2001, he was still scouting for Leeds United, as well as working for both television and radio. The following month, he was appointed first team coach at Second Division club Wigan Athletic. Walsall In January 2002, Lee was named as manager of Division One strugglers Walsall, and kept them clear of relegation for the next two seasons. However, he was sacked in March 2004 after allegedly talking to Plymouth Argyle about the possibility of replacing Paul Sturrock as manager. While Walsall actually gave permission for Lee to speak to Plymouth, and Lee