COLOURFUL, charismatic, controversial, Francis Lee might lay claim to being the best footballing export Bolton Wanderers ever produced.

Headlines were created wherever the blonde-haired Howfener went. He became the youngest debutant ever to score for the Whites when he netted against Manchester City aged just 16 in November 1960, having played only eight Central League games.

“He was astonishing,” wrote the Bolton Evening News reporter, Haydn Berry, “the baby of the battle but no pygmy among giants.

“Lee was a revelation of stamina, spirit and football know-how, and completely justified those who were bold enough to ‘risk’ him in such a testing match and those behind the scenes who urged such a course.”

Born in Westhoughton on April 29,1944, Lee had shown himself to be a natural sportsman in his school years at Westhoughton Boys Secondary Modern and later Horwich Technical College, excelling at football and cricket, leaving himself with plenty of options when he came to picking a sporting career.

Bill Ridding convinced him to come to Bolton and fast-tracked him into senior football, where he briefly crossed paths with the great Nat Lofthouse before taking on the club’s goalscoring mantle for himself after turning professional in 1961.

Between 1962/63 and his final game – a 3-2 League Cup win against Liverpool in September 1967 – he scored 106 goals in 210 appearances, only once dipping below an average of a goal every two games.

His entertaining playing style and quick feet earned him adulation on the Bolton terraces but even in his early years as a professional he gained a reputation for winning – and converting – penalties. To date, no Bolton player has scored more times from the spot.

Lee’s entrepreneurial spirit was also stoked in his early days at Burnden, where he topped up his wages by driving an old brewer’s truck to collect waste paper. In years to come, that would help him make connections to establish FH Lee Ltd, a company which would eventually make him a multi-millionaire.

Wanderers’ fortunes were on the wane as a top-flight club at the time and though Lee was an unquestionably reliable source of goals, his volatile personality made sure he also remained at regular loggerheads with coaching staff and the board.

Even as early as 1961 he slapped in a transfer request after disagreeing with a decision to drop him from the reserve team. It was a pattern which would be repeated several times in an era when engineering a transfer was not nearly as simple as it is today. All the while, Lee built up an impressive scoring CV and the number of clubs tracking his progress started to rise.

By September 1967 Manchester City made the telling move. Bolton’s fans were lodging petitions to the club’s board to improve the squad and the decision was taken to accept a record £65,000 for the winger, then 23, who had scored six goals in nine appearances that season.

City boss Joe Mercer described Lee as the “final piece of the puzzle” at Maine Road and 12 months later he had been part of the team which lifted the First Division title, following up with an FA Cup and a European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Preferred as a centre forward by Mercer, his impressive scoring continued for City where he managed 143 goals in 321 appearances.

Lee played in the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico for England, earning 27 caps and scoring 10 times for his country within the space of three-and-a-half years, mainly playing as an outside right.

His final cap came against West Germany in a European Championship qualifier in April 1972, aged 28, but there would still be plenty of headlines left to create – and following a move to Derby County in 1974 Lee would get his hands on another championship medal.

Dave Mackay spent £110,000 to take him to the Baseball Ground but Lee felt let down by City’s decision to sell, gaining a measure of retribution with the winning goal against the Blues in his first game back.

In November 1972 Lee famously clashed with Leeds United’s Norman Hunter in a scrap that would be replayed countless times on television for decades afterwards.

Lee suffered a cut lip which required four stitches and was suspended for four games but later quipped: “It’s a good job I didn’t get in the dressing room afterwards. I might have just been coming out on parole now.”

Retirement beckoned in 1976, after which Lee concentrated on his blossoming paper business. By 1984 he sold the company for more than £8million and changed his focus to racehorse ownership, with stables near his Cheshire home.

Lee took on the chairman’s job at City in 1994, purchasing £3m in shares, but the club struggled to find success and with relegation to the third tier on the cards, he sold the Blues to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 1998.

He was awarded a CBE in 2016 and continued to be a patron of local charities, raising more than £500,000 for the Bolton Lads and Girls Club via his successful annual golf classic.

Lee is survived by his wife, Gill, and their three children Charlotte, Jonny and Nik.