Lee was a regular starter at the club during Ferguson's first spell in charge but despite the vote of confidence from the manager he believes he has to work hard to keep his place this time around.
He said: "Who knows whether I would have been in the team had Darren Ferguson not returned, but I was very happy to be in the starting line-up and hopefully I can stay there.
"Everybody knows that Darren Ferguson was very successful when he was here before and I was in the team for a lot of that period, but I know that I have to work to stay in the team because we have a good squad of players here."
Despite defeat to league leaders Brighton at the weekend, Lee insists his side can take a host of positives from their performance.
He added: "There are plenty of positives to take [from the Brighton game] and we will work hard this week to get ready for the game with Hartlepool next weekend."
Source: PA
Source: PA