Team-mates: Lee Hodges

As featured in our matchday programme, we spoke to former midfielder Lee Hodges, looking at his teammates during his three-year stint at the club between 1999 and 2002.

The former West Ham United trainee took time out to reflect on his former colleagues in North Lincolnshire.

LEADER…
Hopey. It has to be Chris Hope. He was the captain and inevitably was the leader. He had been at the club for six years prior to me coming in and was only there for one of my three years at the club but he was a big influence really both on and off the field. He was a big character in the changing rooms and was a natural leader.

BEST MATE…
I’d have to say Andy Dawson. We lived together for three years when I was there and we spent a lot of time together. We have a chat now and again and I’ve spoken to Martin Carruthers since I’ve left but Daws is the only one I really speak to.

BEST TRAINER...
I’ll probably go for Tommy Evans, the goalkeeper. He worked really hard every day and he’s one that sticks out who always worked hard in every training session we had.

UNSUNG HERO…
That’s a good question really. I’d probably have to go with Paul Harsley to be honest. He used to work really hard and I don’t think he got an awful lot of recognition for it. We used to see all the work he did on the pitch and he used to put everything into his games. He was a worker.

MOST SKILFUL…
Can I say myself for this one? I’m joking! It’s probably be Beags (Peter Beagrie). It was good to play with him and he was good to have around the team as well. He was a good laugh and a good lad and always good to talk to. He brought his experience from his career, playing at the likes of Everton and he was just really good to have as part of the team at that time.

MOST INTELLIGENT…
It’s another good question and there weren’t a lot of brainy people there, that’s for sure. Mark Jackson maybe? I don’t really know, I never really got involved in that sort of stuff. Maybe Jacko was intelligent, I’ll go with him. It wasn’t me, the furthest thing away from me!

JOKER…
That would probably be me! I’ll say me. No real stories really, it was just every day from me. I was just a pain in the back side and was always on the wind up. I was very consistent with the job and the players and staff would expect it from me.

BEST PLAYER…
The one who still stands out for me really is Guy Ipoua. He came from Bristol Rovers and joined the club at a similar time to me and made a big impact at the club straight away, so I’ll go for him. He scored on his debut against Bournemouth and then again against Cardiff only days later, so he definitely made an impact and an impression.

QUICKEST…
The quickest was probably Nathan Stanton.