Jake Lee, a 17-year-old from Ashton Keynes, made his league debut for Cheltenham Town on Monday

Say what you like about Martin Allen – and some fans at Whaddon Road are unconvinced about their manager, given that he has been unable to halt the side’s slide towards relegation – but he does know about man management.

Lee, a first-year scholar with the youth team, was drafted into the seniors’ matchday squad for only the second time and given his chance to start in the relegation derby against Yeovil.

Despite a busy and willing display, Lee was substituted at half-time before his side went on to win 1-0, a result that prolongs their tenure in League One for a little longer.

Understandably deflated after his debut was cut short, Lee was singled out by Allen in the dressing room afterwards.

“How old are you, 17?” Allen asked Lee, before insisting that all his colleagues stand and applaud the lad who had just made his league debut.

Suddenly, six-footer Lee felt nine feet tall.

Jake’s dad Martin, who was a goalkeeper on the books at Leyton Orient and West Ham in the shadow of Bobby Ferguson and Phil Parkes, said: “It was a hard-fought match and Yeovil were on top in the first half, so Jake did not see a lot of the ball.

“The manager told him at half-time that he wanted to change things around and that it was no reflection on how he had played.

“And that was a nice touch in the dressing room at the end.”

Just two years ago, Jake was still playing for Beeches Reserves in the Cirencester League, but Allen has vowed to give youngsters a chance as he tries to rebuild at cash-strapped Cheltenham — and he has been true to his word.

Lee said: “Roger Hyett, the U16s manager at Cheltenham Town, came to see me play and offered me a trial.

“I was given a contract for the remainder of that season and then, this term, I have started my two-year scholarship.

“I’m loving it and it is a nice change to be paid to play, rather than the other way round. At Beeches, I paid for games and training, whereas now I get £65 a week and I go to college on Monday afternoons and all day Wednesday studying for my National Diploma in Sports Science.”

Lee, who passed 10 GCSEs at Deer Park School, made an immediate impact for Cheltenham Town U16s, scoring 24 goals in his first season.

Goals have been harder to come by since his step up to U18 level, but he has regularly hit the target when turning out for Cheltenham Town reserves and his goal against Bournemouth last week was his ninth of the season for the second string.

“I have had my chance much quicker than I thought because of the situation at Cheltenham Town,” said Lee.

“A lot of players have had to leave the club and the manager has said he will give the youth players a chance.”

Lee is also able to swap stories with his best friend Jordan Record, who is in a similar position at Swindon Town, where one of his duties is to clean the boots of super striker Simon Cox.

“Jordi and I played together for the Deer Park School team which won the Stroud & District Cup three years in a row,” said Lee.

“He also briefly played alongside me at Beeches before being picked up by Swindon.”

It was Record who earned the bragging rights when Swindon’s U18s crushed Lee’s Cheltenham 5-1 earlier this season.

“Jordi didn’t dish it out, but I know a lot of the Swindon lads and they enjoyed the banter,” said Lee.

With Swindon in a less parlous state than Cheltenham, Record is a little further down the pecking order at the County Ground. He did, though, come off the bench for Swindon’s reserves in the recent 2-0 defeat of Yeovil and he is part of the team which has an almost unassailable lead in the Puma Youth Alliance Table with just two games to play.

One advantage Lee has over his mate is versatility. Like his dad, Jake is no mean goalie, either, having represented the district between the sticks.

Should Martin Allen ever have a goalkeeping crisis, he would not have to look far for a ready-made replacement.