Nicknamed 'Evil' because of his robust style of play,  Lee McEvilly is a firm favourite amongst the Spotland faithful.  A centre-forward with a near 1 in 2 ratio, McEvilly uses his broad physique very well, and can play as either a target man or as an out-and-out striker. 

McEvilly was bought for £15,000 in December 2001 from non-league Burscough by then manager John Hollins - incidentally Hollins now acts as McEvilly's agent - his debut came as a substitute in the 4-1 defeat at Kidderminster Harriers a week after signing. However, his non-stop style of play soon saw him attract the attention of club's in higher divisions when he became a regular in the first-team.

In his first season as a professional Lee was the club's leading goalscorer with 19 goals in all competitions.  This included goals for Northern Ireland Under 21s who he featured for regularly.  He also became the Rochdale's first International when he represented Northern Ireland against Spain in April 2001 just five months after playing non-league football.

During the following season Lee struggled to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up.  The appointment of Steve Parkin saw McEvilly criticised for not being fit enough to play league football, and after a lengthy fitness regime, he was sent out on-loan to non-league Accrington Stanley. 

Out of contract in the summer he moved on to permanently to Stanley before moving again this time to Wrexham. Having returned to Accrington he made a second call at Spotland this time on loan around the turn of the year during the 2007/8 season

Having been unable to make the move back to Spotland Lee then moved on to Cambridge United where he was the leading scorer in the early months of the 2008/9 season but having found it difficult to settle in the area he returned to Spotland again, initially on loan with the deal becoming permanent on New Years Day 2009.