Ilkeston Town sign ex-Peterborough, Cardiff, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest player Lee Tomlin this week.
The former playmaker has signed for the seventh-tier club as a player/coach – less than two months after announcing his retirement.
Tomlin released a statement on the 5th of October explaining how the professional game and injuries had taken its toll on him and after 585 appearances for a host of clubs, with Doncaster Rovers his final team, he was calling time on his career.
However, on Thursday night, Southern League Premier Division Central outfit Ilkeston announced the signing with the 33-year-old likely to play this weekend against Redditch United.
Ilkeston are currently managed by ex-Derby and Sheffield United forward Jamie Ward who, was part of the loan swap deal that sent Tomlin from Nottingham Forest to Cardiff City in 2018.
βοΈπ‘ππͺ π¦πππ‘ππ‘π!
We are delighted to announce the signing of former @theposh, @CardiffCityFC, @Boro, @BristolCity and @NFFC midfielder Lee Tomlin as player-coach.
More here β‘οΈ https://t.co/VMI3BUDikM
π΄βͺοΈβ«οΈ #OneTownOneClub pic.twitter.com/Zi3DJwOVnH
β Ilkeston Town FC (@ilkestontown_fc) December 1, 2022
CLUB STATEMENT:
We are delighted to confirm the signing of attacking midfielder Lee Tomlin.
The 33-year-old has agreed a deal to become player-coach at the Microlise New Manor Ground and will go straight into the squad for this weekendβs trip to Redditch United.
Tomlin has vast experience in the professional game, particularly at Championship level with Peterborough United, Cardiff City, Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. He has over 500 professional appearances to his name, scoring 122 goals.
He also played in the Premier League with Bournemouth, and ironically his move between Cardiff City and Nottingham Forest was a swap loan deal with current Robins player-manager Jamie Ward moving the other way.
Tomlin was at Doncaster Rovers earlier this season, making nine appearances and scoring once before leaving the club last month.
“I went into pre-season at Doncaster and I was loving it,” Tomlin told Sky Sports after announcing his retirement. “But the last couple of months of playing and training every day have taken their toll on my body, and it’s just been a bit too much for me, especially with the amount of painkillers I have to take to get through it.
“Playing football is all I’ve ever known, but to try and carry on is too much for me on my body. I wake up every morning in pain, and I’m trying to sleep at night in pain.
“I don’t think anyone’s really ready to retire. I wish it was a job that I could do for a lot more years. But you just have to come to terms with it and accept it.
“I spoke to people close to me and I spoke to the gaffer. It’s a decision I had to make, but I’ve made it for the right reasons.”
“One highlight was undoubtedly winning promotion with Peterborough from League One to the Championship,” he says. “That was an incredible moment.
“Then at Middlesbrough, I know we lost in the play-off final in the end to Norwich, but that whole season was unbelievable. I loved it there. The fans, the club, the whole atmosphere. Every day was brilliant.
“But the top one has to be making my debut in the Premier League. Even I don’t think I dreamt big enough as a kid to think that could happen. I was just a young lad on a council estate, and I didn’t think it could happen to people like us. But the more stories you hear now and see that it can happen to anyone as long as you work hard.
“I was playing in League Two at 16, but even then I felt like you had to be built differently or come from somewhere different. I don’t know. I just didn’t think it would be possible.
“Maybe If I had believed in myself from a younger age I would have had the chance to stay in the Premier League for a bit longer. Everyone always talks about my ability. I think if I really believed I was meant to be there and was worthy of being there I would have.”
Youth career
1996β2005 – Leicester City
2005 – Rushden & Diamonds
Senior career
2005β2010 – Rushden & Diamonds – 156 games (27 goals)
2007 β Brackley Town (loan) – 2 games (0 goals)
2010β2014 – Peterborough United – 135 games (32 goals)
2014β2015 – Middlesbrough – 56 games (11 goals)
2015β2016 – AFC Bournemouth – 6 games (0 goals)
2016 β Bristol City (loan) – 18 games (6 goals)
2016β2017 – Bristol City – 38 games (6 goals)
2017β2021 – Cardiff City – 51 games (10 goals)
2018 β Nottingham Forest (loan) – 15 games (4 goals)
2019 β Peterborough United (loan) – 19 games (2 goals)
2022 – Walsall – 5 games (0 goals)
2022 – Doncaster Rovers – 9 games (1 goal)
2022β Ilkeston Town
National team
2009 – England C – 2 games (0 goals)
“For the first few months I just want to spend time with the family, and be there as much as I can for them,” he says. “I want to make sure they’re all alright and happy.
“But then it’ll be going on to do my coaching badges and kicking on from there. I’m on my final assessment on my B Licence. Then it’s onto my A Licence and my Pro Licence. It’s not something I’m going to rush into, but I will be doing more of it now I’ve got the time to do it.
“I’ve had a lot of old-school managers, and some new managers, and you can pick up little things from each of them. That’s what I’d love to be.”
“I worked with him at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest,” he says. “I’ve always just done well for him. He’s very strict and whatever he says goes, but he knows how to manage his players and with his attacking players he wants to let them do what they do. He let me off a leash.
“When I first went into Middlesbrough I lost a stone-and-a-half with him in a couple of months. That was the first time a manager had ever said ‘you need to do this or that’ to me. Training was such hard work and his man management helped me a lot. He knew how to treat me and talk to me, and it helped a lot.”
“I remember speaking to Dean Whitehead and Jonathan Woodgate after, and they were saying you’ve got your move to the Premier League after that,” he says. “But I didn’t even think about it like that.
“It was just the one performance I felt that, against the players it was against as well, that it was just unbelievable. I just felt in that game that I was flying and gliding past people.”
This Lee Tomlin red card is up there with the most comical you will ever see.
β HLTCO (@HLTCO) July 31, 2022
Twitter users reacted as Ilkeston sign the ex-Peterborough, Cardiff, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest player…
@ElisDavies5: Top top player
@BaileyVickerage: Great signing for u, was good for us in the few games he played but unfortunately the injury made his mind up about retiring. Will probs be good for him not having to train much. Hope he smashes it for u.
@pgjackson1: Was disappointed we didnβt see more of him at DRFC best of luck
@davo261088: What a signing.
@smithythegreat: π³ great signing that ππΌππΌ
@samgranville: He still has a bit of magic π―
@Jon_Herd07: Proper baller is @Leetomlin10
@BCFCJD: Just down the road from me, really will have to pop down for a game now…
@thenathkinsell: These guys are playing real life FM, and just signing anyone whoβs played in League 1 & 2
@davies_macaulay: Swear heβs retired like 4 times
@Scottylaughton: Dropping right down the leagues
@t_unwin: Good on you Tommo. Best of luck.
β You Yeltz! (@YouYeltz) December 1, 2022
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