Horsham Football Club has today announced that Lee Carney has decided to leave the club and move in to the County League by signing for Three Bridges, following a re-approach by them this week. This followed an approach two weeks before which was referred to the Sussex FA who found Three Bridges guilty of breaching the 7 days notice rule. Horsham FC will, however, retain his Ryman registration for the time being. 

Horsham FC had earlier resisted an approach for Lee by Three Bridges at the beginning of the season and, this time around, again made strenuous efforts to persuade Lee not to leave, putting several proposals to him but was unsuccessful in persuading him to stay. The club is bitterly disappointed by his decision to go for purely financial reasons but reluctantly accepts it that it was not able to compete with the lucrative offer he has accepted.

Lee made his debut for Horsham against Bosham in the Sussex Senior Cup on 10th November 2001. Since then, he has notched up 332 appearances for the club, scoring 72 goals. He will be sorely missed by all at the club including his fellow team members and the wide number of supporters who would often chant his name in appreciation of an outstanding personal performance during a game, with his performance in the away match at Canvey Island earlier this month being just the latest example.

Horsham FC Chairman, Kevin Borrett, commented that “Lee is an inspirational and hugely gifted player, his presence on the pitch so often acted as a talisman and seemed to lift the performance of the whole team. There will be those who will think the club is mad not to have done whatever was necessary to keep Lee Carney and, instead, let someone of his quality go. However the club is working under self imposed strict financial constraints, given the current economic environment and as it focuses upon securing a new long term home and then relocating to it. This means that John Maggs has to work to his existing agreed budget and all the other members of the current squad have accepted that is the case. The club simply cannot make dramatic exceptions by substantially increasing any individual player's wages, however attractive it might be in the short term to do so”.

Club Secretary John Lines commented that “the club was extremely unhappy about the way that Three Bridges has gone about their whole approach to Lee and a formal protest about their behaviour was lodged with the Sussex FA. Irrespective of his decision to leave and the Sussex FA ruling, the club will continue to follow that issue through". He also confirmed that, should things not work out for Lee at Three Bridges, the club hoped he would consider rejoining Horsham FC and that, given Lee has stepped down two levels, the club has retained his Ryman papers and would be very keen to talk to him if that occurred.

John Maggs was understandably downbeat about losing arguably the club's most gifted player of the last decade. "I made a big effort to keep Lee at the club and I'm frustrated that a County League side can find ways and means of attracting a player of his calibre but I have to concede that it just got too expensive for us to match their offer. Lee tells me this is an offer he cannot refuse and I have to go with that but he will be sorely missed. He has been a massive player for me and has been one of my most outstanding signings so I'm sure the supporters will regret his move as much as I do. I hope that his departure won't damage us too much in the long term but that remains to be seen. There's certainly no ill-feeling between Lee and myself and I would like to place on record my thanks for his outstanding contribution to the side and wish him well at Three Bridges."

Lee was a virtual unknown when he was spotted playing Intermediate football for Pease Pottage Village by Maggs' assistant, Ali Rennie, at the start of the 2001/2 season but gave an early indication of his exceptional talent by scoring twice on his Horsham debut in an astonishing 10-1 Sussex County Cup win against Bosham. He quickly became an ever-present in Maggs' exciting young side that finished runners-up to Lewes in the Division One table, alongside such emerging talents as Jamie Taylor, Eddie French, Luke Gedling and Gary Charman and ended the campaign with a Sussex Floodlit Cup winners' medal, Horsham's first cup success in more than 20 years.

The club's Player of the Year award came his way in 2003/4 and, the following season, Lee's 19 goals helped Horsham to a promotion play-off final defeat to Bromley as the club finished in 3rd place behind AFC Wimbledon and Walton & Hersham. But success was just 12 months away as the Hornets claimed promotion to the Premier Division with Carney again at the heart of things, coming off the bench in the crucial match at Molesey to help turn a 1-0 deficit in to a 3-1 victory to secure their place in the Isthmian League top flight.

Spectacular goals became Lee's trademark and this was never better highlighted than during the club's FA Cup run of 2007/8 when a man of the match display against Maidenhead United saw him score two sensational goals to earn the club a money-spinning 2nd Round tie against Swansea City to finally present him with the ideal stage on which to display his undisputed talents.

A firm favourite among Horsham's followers, it seemed a sad inevitability that Lee might someday follow the likes of Jamie Taylor, Lewis Taylor and Jacob Mingle in making the step up to Conference standard football, with Stevenage Borough rumoured to be among the many clubs to have taken an interest in him, but the fans and management were delighted to see him kick off a 9th season with the Hornets looking as enthusiastic and committed as any of the previous 8 campaigns. The shock of his imminent departure to the County League, then, will be met with a disappointment as strong among the Horsham faithful as it will undoubtedly be of excitement to his new fans at Three Bridges.

Lee and his family will be sadly missed by all at Horsham Football Club but we wish him well at his new club and can assure them all of a warm welcome should our paths meet again in the future.