Blackpool fan Lee Charles is nominated for top media award and reveals: It all started cleaning the seats at Bloomfield Road

The Blackpool-born Seasiders fan’s channel, Lee Charles TV, contains more than 200 videos and has received over 320,000 views.

Now Lee, from South Shore, has been nominated in the Best New Content Creator category at the prestigious Football Content Awards, which celebrate the best in online football media.

The awards ceremony has grown into a glittering annual event since its launch in 2012.

This year’s is to be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November, with categories for large media organisations as well as independent film-makers like Lee.

Taxi driver Lee told The Gazette: “When I started the YouTube channel, with a video cleaning pigeon poo off the seats at Bloomfield Road before the Homecoming game last year, I had no idea what would happen.

“Sometimes you just need to follow your dreams and see where they lead.

“It all started when I volunteered to clean seats ahead of the Southend game last season.

“I’d been teaching myself camera techniques and how to make a video, so I decided to make one cleaning off the poo and having a rant at Oyston. Next thing I got a call from Quest asking to use my footage on their EFL programme. I did the One Show as well and it all started from there.”

Lee’s labour of love sparked romance too as it brought him into contact with Jane Stuart, a BFC blogger and editor of the ‘Now That’s What I Call Progress’ fanzine, who is now his partner.

“We sort of got together through Blackpool FC because Jane had been doing her fanzine for years,” explains Lee. “She helps me a lot and does all the away days, and I have close to 2,000 subscribers now.”

Lee Charles TV covers the fan experience at Blackpool matches, plus meet-the-player nights and fan interviews.

He operates independently of the club but has found BFC supportive of his efforts and he was invited to cover the kit launch at the top of Blackpool Tower last year.

“We do videos at every game and try to get a bit of the atmosphere across,” he said.

“I’m learning all the time and I’ve found that I don’t get as many views when we lose, though you do get more from supporters of the other team.

“It’s a shame because the next game would have been Sunderland, which would have been massive.

“This has become my life and I’d like to take it further. I’ve now been approached by a company to make videos.

“The Football Content Awards really are massive now and we have to win.

“We are up against some bigger operations but I think we’re head and shoulders above them and will bring trophy back.”

And nobody will be more impressed if he does so than Lee’s sons, despite their initial reservations.

“I’m in my 50s and my two boys were amazed I was doing YouTube,” says Lee.

“They were totally against it at first, but I’d like to demonstrate that even if you’re a dad you can always start up something new and be successful doing something you love.”

In the absence of football, Lee and Jane host a live weekly chat show at 3pm every Saturday (LCTV@3) and a live football quiz at 7pm each Tuesday.

They attract viewers from all over the world, including Thailand and Australia.

Lee added: “The Blackpool fans are back after five years away and then coronavirus stops everything. It’s unbelievable.

“All I want to do is promote my hometown and my beloved football club.

“It would be great to put Blackpool back on the map by winning this award. Let’s win it for Blackpool.”

Lee urges any Blackpool supporters who have not yet checked out Lee Charles TV to take a look at his content.

He has produced a sample video showing highlights from the channel which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/WcR-I2T8OS4.

Voting for the Football Content Awards is open until midnight on Thursday, June 18. You can vote athttps://footballcontentawards.com/2020-voting/.