Bees keeper Lee confirms retirement

Brentford have confirmed goalkeeper Richard Lee will retire at the end of the season.

The 32-year-old has played 87 games for the Bees since joining from Watford in 2010, but has only made one appearance this season due to the shoulder injury that has dogged him for a couple of years.

Lee said he had decided back in September that this season would be his last and thanked manager Mark Warburton for being supportive of the decision.

The goalkeeper added: “I am retiring because I have peaked and don’t have the confidence that I can now surpass that peak.

“As a result, football to me now equates to frustration and often pain.

“I do feel blessed to have had so many fantastic memories to take away from the game that will live with me forever.”

Lee established himself as Brentford’s first-choice keeper during the 2010-11 season. His penalty-saving abilities helped the club win four shoot-outs in that campaign and saw him named supporters’ player of they year.

A dislocated shoulder in early 2011 was the start of a near four-year battle to stay fit. He had surgery on the shoulder in the summer of 2013 and suffered a recurrence of the injury earlier this year.

His only appearance this season came in Brentford’s remarkable 5-5 League Cup tie with Dagenham and Redbridge, when he again saw the club through a penalty shoot-out.

Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that Jack Bonham, who has assumed Lee’s role as back-up to first-choice keeper David Button, has signed a new three-and-a-half year deal.

The 21-year-old’s contract was due to expire in the summer but he will now be with the club until 2018.

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