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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Robert Speedie | ||
| Date of birth | (1960-02-20)20 February 1960 (age 65) | ||
| Place of birth | Glenrothes, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 19??–1978 | Brodsworth Welfare | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1978–1980 | Barnsley | 23 | (0) |
| 1980–1982 | Darlington | 88 | (21) |
| 1982–1987 | Chelsea | 162 | (47) |
| 1987–1991 | Coventry City | 122 | (31) |
| 1991 | Liverpool | 12 | (6) |
| 1991–1992 | Blackburn Rovers | 36 | (23) |
| 1992–1993 | Southampton | 11 | (0) |
| 1992 | →Birmingham City (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 1992 | →West Bromwich Albion (loan) | 7 | (2) |
| 1993 | →West Ham United (loan) | 11 | (4) |
| 1993–1994 | Leicester City | 37 | (12) |
| 1994–1995 | Crawley Town | ||
| 1995–1996 | Atherstone United | ||
| 1996–1997 | Hendon | 5 | (0) |
| 1997–1999 | Stamford | ||
| 1999–2000 | Harrow Borough | ||
| 2000–2001 | Crook Town | ||
| 2001–200? | Darlington Railway Athletic | ||
| 200?–2007 | Rainworth Miners Welfare | ||
| Total | 524 | (148) | |
| International career | |||
| 1985–1989 | Scotland | 10 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
David Robert Speedie (born 20 February 1960) is a Scottish formerfootballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notablyChelsea,Coventry City,Liverpool andBlackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 football league appearances and scored almost 150 goals in a 14-year professional career. He also earned ten international caps forScotland.
Born inGlenrothes, Scotland but raised inYorkshire, Speedie worked as acoalminer, playing forBrodsworth Welfare, before signing professional terms withBarnsley in 1978. Without having scored a single goal for Barnsley in 21 appearances, he moved toDarlington in 1980, where his talent first became apparent. Just two years later, he was spotted by then-Chelsea managerJohn Neal, who signed him for £80,000 in May 1982.
Speedie had a five-year stint at Chelsea where he formed a prolificstrike partnership withKerry Dixon. Speedie's strength, scoring prowess, work-rate and unlikely heading ability (he is 5 ft 7 in tall) perfectly complemented both Dixon and wingerPat Nevin as the trio notched up over 200 goals between them in three years. Before the arrival of Nevin and Dixon, however, Speedie had played an important part in Chelsea's survival in theSecond Division a year earlier, with his seven goals (including two on his debut againstOldham Athletic) that season proving crucial. Speedie was the Chelsea Player of the Year 1985 and popular with the fans for his consistent gutsy performances.[citation needed]
In 1986, he became the first senior player sinceGeoff Hurst in the1966 World Cup final to score a hat-trick atWembley, as Chelsea defeatedManchester City 5–4 in theFull Members Cup final, after Chelsea had led 5–1. That year Chelsea finished sixth in the league, having been in the hunt for the league title for most of the season before a late slump in form ruled them out of contention in the final weeks.
Speedie left Chelsea in 1987 with three years left on his contract due to disagreements with the hierarchy.[2]
Having scored 64 goals in 205 appearances for theWest London side, Speedie joinedCoventry City for £750,000 in July 1987 following a disagreement with Chelsea managerJohn Hollins. His first appearance was in the1987 FA Charity Shield against Everton where he narrowly missed out on scoring on his debut. This statistic would be rectified just a week later however when in an effective replay of the 1987 Cup Final atHighfield Road Speedie scored with a fine low shot pastRay Clemence to set up a 2–1 win over Spurs. Whilst Coventry were hampered in their post Cup final season by a disintegrating pitch, Speedie earned the notable distinction of scoring a hat-trick whilst finishing on the losing side in a 3–4 defeat against Middlesbrough.
Speedie combined with the aerial strength ofCyrille Regis and the wide options ofDavid Smith,David Phillips,Micky Gynn andBrian Borrows to score some memorable goals. His chipped winning goal at Carrow Road against a high-flyingNorwich City side, was almost universally described in the press as 'sublime'.[3] This became the Speedie trademark at Coventry and was used to great effect against the likes of Wimbledon and Southampton. He was a key component in the Coventry City side in the 1988/89 campaign, beating the champions-elect Arsenal and riding as high as 3rd in the league as late as February. They would only lose 5 games on their travels that season-winning the same number away from home.[4] Their 7th-place finish was only the third time a top 8 place had been achieved.[citation needed]
The latter half of his spell at Coventry would see him drop back into a deeper midfield role which led to a significant reduction in his goals tally. He enjoyed just under four years at Coventry, none of which were relegation battles, scoring 35 goals (Cup and league). This equalled his Chelsea strike rate and enabled him to maintain a presence in the Scottish international side. His indiscipline and habit of courting controversy was always a major weakness. Speedie left Highfield Road amid the turbulent and transitional autumn/winter period of 1990/91, which would see managerJohn Sillett replaced byTerry Butcher.[citation needed]
Speedie joinedLiverpool in January 1991 and becameKenny Dalglish's last signing before his resignation on 22 February 1991.[5] Dalglish had been interested in signing Speedie four years earlier when he was still at Chelsea.[6]
He scored on his Liverpool debut at Old Trafford then scored twice in the Merseyside Derby in the next league game, and by the end of the season had scored six goals for the Reds - all in the league.[7]
However, his Liverpool career was short and whenGraeme Souness took over as manager he was sold that summer to Blackburn Rovers, where Dalglish returned to management soon afterwards. On the final day of the1991-92 season, he scored a hat-trick in a win which relegated Plymouth Argyle but most significantly fired Rovers into the play-offs and would be a major step towards a new era for the club, beginning with a playoff final victory which took them into the newFA Premier League, which they won three years later.
Speedie was not to be part of Blackburn's Premier League adventures. He was sold toSouthampton for £400,000, replacingAlan Shearer who had moved the other way for £3.6million, a national record fee. Speedie joined the Saints at the same time as his old Chelsea strike partnerKerry Dixon.[8] Speedie has said of his time at Saints, "Biggest mistake of my career, should never have gone to Southampton."[9]
He made just seven appearances (without scoring) for the Saints in the1992–93 league campaign, making his Premier League debut, having unsuccessful loan spells withBirmingham City andWest Bromwich Albion before another loan deal in early March took him to Division One promotion contendersWest Ham United. His four goals in 11 league games helped the Hammers secure automatic promotion to the Premier League as Division One runners-up.[citation needed]
Speedie was not offered a permanent contract with West Ham. Instead, he accepted on offer fromBrian Little to sign for Division One promotion hopefulsLeicester City. He scored 12 goals in 37 league games for theEast Midlands side in1993–94 as they qualified for the playoffs and sealed promotion to the Premier League by defeating local rivalsDerby County 2–1 in the playoff final atWembley Stadium. Speedie missed that game through suspension and retired later in the year due to injury, having never featured in the Premier League for the Foxes.[10]
Speedie made his senior debut for Scotland on 25 May 1985 in a 1–0Rous Cup tie win overEngland. He won the last of his 10 full caps for Scotland on 30 May 1989 againstChile, also a Rous Cup tie, which Scotland won 2–0. However, Speedie never scored for the Scottish national side.[11]
Speedie continued his career at non-league level for a host of clubs including Stamford AFC and Hendon where he made five appearances whilst failing to score. Indeed, his most impressive 45 minutes came as a replacement goalkeeper for the second half of Hendon's first game of the 1996–97 season against Sutton United after first choice Scott Ashcroft got injured just before half time. He also made a handful of Northern League appearances for Crook Town. He retired having scored 150 career goals.[citation needed]
Speedie lived for a while inDublin where he commented forSetanta Sports and played for Francis AFC in Dublin's United Churches League.[12]
Speedie allegedly made racist remarks at a charity event in 2004.[13] In 2020,Chelsea removed Speedie's name from the only two named entrances of Stamford Bridge stadium, put up by former club chairman Ken Bates in the 1980s.[14]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Barnsley | ||||||||||||
| 1978–79[15] | Fourth Division | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1979–80[15] | Third Division | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | ||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | ||
| Darlington | ||||||||||||
| 1980–81[15] | Fourth Division | 44 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 47 | 4 | ||
| 1981–82[15] | Fourth Division | 44 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 48 | 18 | ||
| Total | 88 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 22 | ||
| Chelsea | ||||||||||||
| 1982–83[16] | Second Division | 34 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | — | 40 | 9 | ||
| 1983–84[17] | Second Division | 37 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 41 | 13 | ||
| 1984–85[18] | First Division | 35 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 4 | — | 47 | 16 | ||
| 1985–86[19] | First Division | 34 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 5[a] | 5 | 49 | 22 | |
| 1986–87[20] | First Division | 22 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 28 | 4 | |
| Total | 162 | 47 | 12 | 5 | 24 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 205 | 64 | ||
| Coventry City | ||||||||||||
| 1987–88[15] | First Division | 36 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[b] | 1 | 43 | 7 | |
| 1988–89[15] | First Division | 36 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1[a] | 0 | 41 | 15 | |
| 1989–90[15] | First Division | 32 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | — | 40 | 9 | ||
| 1990–91[15] | First Division | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | 21 | 4 | ||
| Total | 122 | 31 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 145 | 35 | ||
| Liverpool | 1990–91[21] | First Division | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 6 | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | 1991–92[15] | Second Division | 36 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3[c] | 2 | 43 | 26 |
| Southampton | 1992–93[15] | Premier League | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 12 | 0 | |
| Birmingham City (loan) | 1992–93[15] | First Division | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| West Bromwich Albion (loan) | 1992–93[15] | Second Division | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[e] | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| West Ham United (loan) | 1992–93[22] | First Division | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 11 | 4 | |
| Leicester City | 1993–94[23] | First Division | 37 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1[f] | 1 | 42 | 14 |
| Hendon | 1996–97[24] | Isthmian Premier | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 524 | 148 | 24 | 7 | 49 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 616 | 175 | ||
Barnsley
Chelsea
Coventry
Blackburn Rovers
West Ham United
Leicester City
Stamford
Scotland
Individual