GRAEME LEE’S career has always been intrinsically connected with Hartlepool United. He made his senior debut for Pools, progressing through the club’s youth ranks before going on to make almost 300 senior appearances, winning promotion in 2003.

His biggest achievement for his following club, Sheffield Wednesday, came when he won the League One play-off final in 2005. The opponents at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium? Hartlepool.

When he had two years with Doncaster Rovers, he made a couple of loan moves to sharpen up his fitness after serious neck and knee injuries. The identity of one of his loan employers? Hartlepool of course.

Yet up until yesterday, when it came to his coaching and managerial career, the connection had been broken. Not anymore. After more than a decade working in Middlesbrough’s academy, where he rose to the position of lead coach with the Under-23s, Lee has left Rockliffe Park to return to his spiritual home. His heart has always been in Hartlepool – now, the rest of him has returned there too.

“From leaving, I’ve always wanted to come back,” said Lee, who will be assisted by another former Pools player, Michael Nelson. “I’ve always had a plan. Once I wanted to be a manager, it was always Hartlepool. That’s where I wanted to be. I’ve been in Middlesbrough for the last ten years, and done my homework in terms of what I wanted to do to get to this point. Fortunately, this is the one and my opportunity has come.

“I’m going to grasp it and run with it. Coming back here, it’s like coming back home. I started my playing career here, and now I’ve got the chance to start my managerial career here too. That’s exactly what I want, and I want to make a success of it, like I did as a player.”

The Northern Echo:

Lee was back at Victoria Park on Tuesday night, posing for pictures after agreeing terms with Pools owner Raj Singh, and it did not take long for the memories to start to flow.

“They came back straight away,” he said. “The first goal scored, looking at the Town End thinking, ‘Wow, it was my first goal there’. The pitch looks brilliant, Davey the groundsman is still knocking around. We had a laugh about when we used to play ‘knocky-outy’ with the youth team with him. Seeing those faces has been brilliant.”

Lee is delighted to be taking his first managerial steps with the club that means so much him, but his appointment as Dave Challinor’s permanent successor is not merely a wallowing in nostalgia.

Having become a highly-respected part of Middlesbrough’s academy, the 43-year-old wants to strike out on his own and prove himself as a capable manager. He wants to improve the players he has inherited and develop the talent that exists within the Hartlepool squad. And he wants to maintain the momentum that was generated during last season’s promotion campaign, but which is in danger of dissipating after a run of five successive league defeats.

“The start to the season was promising,” he said, in an interview with Hartlepool's official website. “The squad showed they can compete in this league. Obviously, with the manager leaving, it’s been a bit disruptive, but Tony Sweeney has done an amazing job.

"I think the potential is there. In the next month or so, we’ll be looking at possible targets. But we’ll be looking at how we can improve this squad and improve the players we’ve got."