Lee Camp
Encyclopedia
Lee Michael John Camp is an English
-born Northern Irish
footballer who plays for Nottingham Forest
and internationally for Northern Ireland
as a goalkeeper. He has also played for the England under-21's
.
during the 2002–03
season, and joined Burton Albion
on loan in January 2003. At the end of the same season, he went to Queens Park Rangers
for the last few games also on loan, where he helped the club reach promotion to the old Division One. In Derby's end-of-season awards he came close to winning Player Of The Season but went home with the Sammy Crooks Young Player of the Year award. He also won the Brian Clough Player Of The Year. Camp enjoyed many successes not only in the football world; he appeared on many radio shows and also participated in Goalkeeping Essentials by former Derby County coach Alex Penny
.
Camp joined Norwich City
on 7 September 2006, on a three-month loan with effect from 8 September, covering an injury to Joe Lewis
. Camp made his first Norwich City full début on the 28 November 2006 against Leicester City
. He kept his place for the following match against Sheffield Wednesday
where he was unfortunate to score an own goal in a 2–1 defeat.
("QPR") on a three-month loan deal on 12 February 2007, having helped the club achieve promotion in 2004 in a similar loan deal. He returned to Derby early, on 25 April 2007, after a suspension to Stephen Bywater
left the Rams short of goalkeepers.
Camp was transferred to QPR on 27 July 2007, after long negotiations, for a fee of £300,000. He agreed a three-year deal with the club. Camp was the only QPR player to start in every league fixture of the 2007–08
campaign.
on a three-month loan. He played a pivotal role in helping the club climb out of the bottom three and also saved two penalties; one against Derby, his former club, and one against Bristol City
. Both were in the final minutes of the games. He was allowed to go back to QPR when Colin Calderwood
was sacked and replaced by Billy Davies
, his former manager at Derby County
.
On 2 July 2009 it was announced on Forest's official website that a transfer had been agreed and, subject to a medical examination, Camp was to complete his signing by 4 July 2009. The fee was reported to be around £100,000 but with additional payments.
He made his first start as a permanent Forest player on 10 August 2009 in their league opener against Reading
where they were unlucky to come away with only a 0–0 draw. Camp made an excellent start as first choice Forest goalkeeper, conceding only one goal in six games and keeping a clean sheet for over 10.5 hours of football. He won the December Championship Player of the Month Award, as well as helping the side up to the heights of second in the Championship by 17 January 2010.
After making such an impressive start for Nottingham Forest, Lee Camp continued to produce fine performances at the start of the 2010–11 season for Forest and was an ever-present in the Forest goal, featuring in every match of the 2010–11 season. Camp kept a total of 12 clean sheets and produced a number of fine performances that earned Forest valuable points. When Club Captain Paul McKenna
was injured, Camp stepped in as the Nottingham Forest Captain. Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies spoke of his delight at having a goalkeeper with the class of Lee Camp saying, "You talk about positives and negatives in players, but his performances have been first-class – simply outstanding." Camp kept a clean sheet in the first leg of the 2010–11 Football League Championship
playoff semi final against Swansea City
where he was forced to make numerous fine saves. Camp finished second in the club's player of the season award to Luke Chambers
.
In the summer 2011 transfer window, Forest rejected three bids from Swansea City
- the highest of which was a £1.8m bid - for the services of Camp.
Camp started the first game of season against Barnsley
at the City Ground
and kept his first clean sheet of the 2011–12 Championship season. Camp was able to keep his second clean sheet in the Reds' first league win of the season, against Doncaster Rovers
. Camp's outstanding performance which saw him make critical saves against Watford
, was key to seeing Forest pick up their second win and third clean sheet of the campaign.
five times, including the first (professional) match at the new Wembley Stadium
. He stated that this honour was the highlight of his footballing career up to that time. Camp gave up a goal mere seconds into the match, giving him the dubious distinction of being the first man to concede a goal at the new stadium.
Having not earned a call-up to the full England team, Camp stated that he would be keen on playing for Northern Ireland
, who he qualifies for through his Newtownards
-born grandfather. Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington
asked the Irish Football Association
to start the process to make Camp available for the national side and FIFA confirmed Camp's eligibility to play for Northern Ireland on 16 February 2011. He received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland squad on 14 March 2011, for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Serbia and Slovenia, and made his Northern Ireland debut in the match against Serbia on 25 March 2011.
|rowspan="2"|2002–03
||Derby County
||First Division
||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
|Burton Albion
||Conference
||5||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||5||0
|-
|2003–04
||Queens Park Rangers
||Second Division
||12||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||0
|-
|2004–05
||rowspan="3"|Derby County
||rowspan="11"|Championship
||47||0||3||0||1||0||51||0
|-
|2005–06
||41||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||41||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|2006–07
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||4||0
|-
|Norwich City
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Queens Park Rangers
||11||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||11||0
|-
|2007–08
||46||0||1||0||1||0||48||0
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008–09
||4||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||5||0
|-
|rowspan="4"|Nottingham Forest
||15||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||15||0
|-
|2009–10||47||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||49||0
|-
|2010–11
||48||0||2||0|||1||0||51||0
|-
|2011–12
||16||0||0||0|||2||0||18||0
|-
|-
299||0||9||0||7||0||315||0
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Northern Irish
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
footballer who plays for Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
and internationally for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
as a goalkeeper. He has also played for the England under-21's
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
.
Derby County
He made his first appearance with Derby CountyDerby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
during the 2002–03
2002-03 in English football
The 2002-03 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in England.-Most Memorable rise:*Wigan Athletic marked their 25th season of Football League membership by winning the Division Two championship and reaching the league's second tier for the very first time.-Most Memorable...
season, and joined Burton Albion
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...
on loan in January 2003. At the end of the same season, he went to Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
for the last few games also on loan, where he helped the club reach promotion to the old Division One. In Derby's end-of-season awards he came close to winning Player Of The Season but went home with the Sammy Crooks Young Player of the Year award. He also won the Brian Clough Player Of The Year. Camp enjoyed many successes not only in the football world; he appeared on many radio shows and also participated in Goalkeeping Essentials by former Derby County coach Alex Penny
Alex Penny
Alexander Penny is a former youth trainee footballer and is currently an academy coach with Southampton FC.-Playing career:...
.
Camp joined Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
on 7 September 2006, on a three-month loan with effect from 8 September, covering an injury to Joe Lewis
Joe Lewis
Joseph Peter "Joe" Lewis is an English footballer who plays for Peterborough United as a goalkeeper, having made a £400,000 transfer from Norwich City on 8 January 2008.-Norwich City:...
. Camp made his first Norwich City full début on the 28 November 2006 against Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
. He kept his place for the following match against Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
where he was unfortunate to score an own goal in a 2–1 defeat.
Queens Park Rangers
Camp joined Queens Park RangersQueens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
("QPR") on a three-month loan deal on 12 February 2007, having helped the club achieve promotion in 2004 in a similar loan deal. He returned to Derby early, on 25 April 2007, after a suspension to Stephen Bywater
Stephen Bywater
Stephen Michael Bywater, is an English professional football player who plays as a goalkeeper. He has made appearances for seven clubs, most notably his current club Derby County, where he won the 2007 Championship Playoff final and West Ham United, where he spent eight seasons and made over 60...
left the Rams short of goalkeepers.
Camp was transferred to QPR on 27 July 2007, after long negotiations, for a fee of £300,000. He agreed a three-year deal with the club. Camp was the only QPR player to start in every league fixture of the 2007–08
Queens Park Rangers F.C. season 2007-08
During the 2007–08 season, Queens Park Rangers were playing in the Football League Championship.-Pre-season:Manager John Gregory began rebuilding the squad before the new season, bringing in Daniel Nardiello, Chris Barker and John Curtis on free transfers...
campaign.
Nottingham Forest
On 20 October 2008 Camp joined Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
on a three-month loan. He played a pivotal role in helping the club climb out of the bottom three and also saved two penalties; one against Derby, his former club, and one against Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
. Both were in the final minutes of the games. He was allowed to go back to QPR when Colin Calderwood
Colin Calderwood
Colin Calderwood is a Scottish football player and coach. In November 2011 he was appointed as Chris Hughton's assistant manager at Birmingham City....
was sacked and replaced by Billy Davies
Billy Davies
William McIntosh "Billy" Davies is a Glasgow-born Scottish football manager, noted for his achievement in the Football League Championship with East Midlands Rivals Derby County and Nottingham Forest and Preston North End which has led him to be described, in 2011, as "probably the best manager at...
, his former manager at Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
.
On 2 July 2009 it was announced on Forest's official website that a transfer had been agreed and, subject to a medical examination, Camp was to complete his signing by 4 July 2009. The fee was reported to be around £100,000 but with additional payments.
He made his first start as a permanent Forest player on 10 August 2009 in their league opener against Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
where they were unlucky to come away with only a 0–0 draw. Camp made an excellent start as first choice Forest goalkeeper, conceding only one goal in six games and keeping a clean sheet for over 10.5 hours of football. He won the December Championship Player of the Month Award, as well as helping the side up to the heights of second in the Championship by 17 January 2010.
After making such an impressive start for Nottingham Forest, Lee Camp continued to produce fine performances at the start of the 2010–11 season for Forest and was an ever-present in the Forest goal, featuring in every match of the 2010–11 season. Camp kept a total of 12 clean sheets and produced a number of fine performances that earned Forest valuable points. When Club Captain Paul McKenna
Paul McKenna
Paul McKenna is an English hypnotist and self-improvement author.McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-improvement television shows and presents seminars in hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, weight loss and motivation.-Career:Paul McKenna started in...
was injured, Camp stepped in as the Nottingham Forest Captain. Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies spoke of his delight at having a goalkeeper with the class of Lee Camp saying, "You talk about positives and negatives in players, but his performances have been first-class – simply outstanding." Camp kept a clean sheet in the first leg of the 2010–11 Football League Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
playoff semi final against Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
where he was forced to make numerous fine saves. Camp finished second in the club's player of the season award to Luke Chambers
Luke Chambers
Luke Chambers is an English footballer currently playing for Nottingham Forest. He is a centre-back but has also played as a right-back.-Northampton Town:Chambers made his Town debut against Mansfield in 2003...
.
In the summer 2011 transfer window, Forest rejected three bids from Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
- the highest of which was a £1.8m bid - for the services of Camp.
Camp started the first game of season against Barnsley
Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...
at the City Ground
City Ground
The City Ground is a football stadium in the West Bridgford area of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898, and has a capacity of 30,602 ....
and kept his first clean sheet of the 2011–12 Championship season. Camp was able to keep his second clean sheet in the Reds' first league win of the season, against Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is an English football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship, after being promoted via the League One play-offs in 2008, and have remained there since.The club was founded in...
. Camp's outstanding performance which saw him make critical saves against Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
, was key to seeing Forest pick up their second win and third clean sheet of the campaign.
International career
Camp played for the England under-21sEngland national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
five times, including the first (professional) match at the new Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
. He stated that this honour was the highlight of his footballing career up to that time. Camp gave up a goal mere seconds into the match, giving him the dubious distinction of being the first man to concede a goal at the new stadium.
Having not earned a call-up to the full England team, Camp stated that he would be keen on playing for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
, who he qualifies for through his Newtownards
Newtownards
Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...
-born grandfather. Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington
Nigel Worthington
Nigel Worthington is a former Northern Ireland international footballer and manager.He was manager of the Northern Ireland national team from 2007 until after their final Euro 2012 qualifying campaign match against Italy in October 2011.As a player, he was a left full back and occasional left...
asked the Irish Football Association
Irish Football Association
The Irish Football Association is the organising body for association football in Northern Ireland, and was historically the governing body for Ireland...
to start the process to make Camp available for the national side and FIFA confirmed Camp's eligibility to play for Northern Ireland on 16 February 2011. He received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland squad on 14 March 2011, for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Serbia and Slovenia, and made his Northern Ireland debut in the match against Serbia on 25 March 2011.
Career statistics
|-|rowspan="2"|2002–03
The Football League 2002-03
The 2002–2003 season was the 103rd completed season of The Football League.-Football League First Division:Portsmouth won the First Division by some distance, passing manager Harry Redknapp’s old club, West Ham on the way down. Leicester City earned a somewhat controversial promotion, as...
||Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
||First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
|Burton Albion
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...
||Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
||5||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||5||0
|-
|2003–04
The Football League 2003-04
The 2003–2004 season was the 104th completed season of The Football League.-Overview:This season was the last association football season in the football league where the divisions were known as "First", "Second", and "Third"...
||Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
||Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||12||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||0
|-
|2004–05
The Football League 2004-05
The 2004–2005 season was the 105th completed season of The Football League.-Overview:This season the league was contested through three divisions. 2004–05 was the first season to feature the rebranded Football League. The First Division, Second Division and Third Division were renamed the Football...
||rowspan="3"|Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
||rowspan="11"|Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
||47||0||3||0||1||0||51||0
|-
|2005–06
The Football League 2005-06
The 2005–2006 season was the 106th completed season of The Football League.-Overview:In this season of Football League, Reading was the only club in England to get more than 100 points and they also have won the League Championship...
||41||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||41||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|2006–07
The Football League 2006-07
The 2006–2007 season was the 107th completed season of the Football League.-Overview:The Football League was contested through three Divisions in England and Wales. The divisions were the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two...
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||4||0
|-
|Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
||11||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||11||0
|-
|2007–08
The Football League 2007-08
The Football League is contested through three divisions in England and Wales. The divisions are the League Championship, League One and League Two. The winner and the runner up of the League Championship will be automatically promoted to the Premier League and they will be joined by the winner of...
||46||0||1||0||1||0||48||0
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008–09
The Football League 2008-09
The Football League 2008–09, titled the Coca-Cola Football League, was the 109th completed season of the Football League. It began in August 2008 and concluded in May 2009, with the promotion play-off finals....
||4||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||5||0
|-
|rowspan="4"|Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
||15||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||15||0
|-
|2009–10||47||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||49||0
|-
|2010–11
2010–11 Football League
The Football League 2010–11, called the Npower Football League, was the 111th completed season of the Football League. It began in August 2010 and concluded in May 2011, with the promotion play-off finals....
||48||0||2||0|||1||0||51||0
|-
|2011–12
2011–12 Football League
The Football League 2011–12, called the Npower Football League, is the 112th season of the Football League. It began in August 2011 and will conclude in May 2012, with the promotion play-off finals....
||16||0||0||0|||2||0||18||0
|-
|-
299||0||9||0||7||0||315||0