Lee Chapman
Encyclopedia
Lee Chapman is an English
former footballer who scored almost 200 first-team goals as a striker
. He was best known for his spells at Sheffield Wednesday
and Leeds United. He is the son of former Lincoln City
, Port Vale
and Chester
striker, Roy Chapman.
Chapman is married to the actress Leslie Ash
, with whom he owns restaurants; So:uk in London and Teatro Leeds, in which one of his former clubs, Leeds United, is a shareholder. He previously owned another restaurant, Teatro in Soho, London.
, but made his league debut whilst on loan at Plymouth Argyle
. On his return to Stoke, Chapman quickly became a first team regular, scoring made 34 goals in 99 appearances between 1979 and 1982.
His goal scoring abilities brought him to the attention of Division One clubs, and in August 1982 Chapman moved to Arsenal
for £500,000. However, the move was not a success - he made only 23 appearances for the club between 1982 and 1984, and scored a meagre 4 goals. Chapman moved on to Sunderland for the 1983-84 season, but again failed to establish himself in the team, scoring just 3 goals in 15 appearances.
Howard Wilkinson
, then manager of Sheffield Wednesday
, signed Chapman in 1984, and at Wednesday he regained his goal scoring form; between 1984 and 1988 Chapman scored 63 goals in 149 appearances. However, Wilkinson moved on to manage Leeds United in 1988, and on his departure Chapman moved on briefly to French side Chamois Niort, before Brian Clough
signed him for Nottingham Forest. Chapman was an integral part of the Forest team that won the Littlewoods Cup
and Simod Cup
in 1989, scoring two goals in the latter's final. He had a good season in the league as Forest finished third, though they never really looked like catching the leading pair of Arsenal
(champions on goal difference) and runners-up Liverpool
. However, Forest's failure to clinch the title in 1988-89
was not ultimately the end of Chapman's quest to be part of a title winning side.
In his time at the City Ground
, Chapman was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster
during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Chapman played in the rescheduled game at Old Trafford
, which Liverpool won 3-1.
title and promotion to the First Division in 1990. Leeds finished 4th in 1991, and the following season he was the top scorer as Leeds won the last-ever league title before the creation of the FA Premier League
. Chapman scored the club's first two goals in the new league at the start of the 1992-93
season, scoring twice in a 2-1 home win over Wimbledon
. A year later Wilkinson began to rebuild his side, and Chapman was allowed to move to Portsmouth
for £250,000.
signed him for £250,000 in September 1993. Scoring on his West Ham debut on 18 September 1993 in a 2-0 away win against Blackburn Rovers
, he played 51 games in all competitions scoring 11 goals. He remained in the Premiership when he moved on to Ipswich
for a fee of £70,000 in November 1994.
He played one game on loan for Southend United
in January 1995, scoring the consolation goal in the Shrimpers' 4-1 defeat at Grimsby Town
.
During early 1996 he was loaned back to Leeds United where he played only two games. In his first, against one of his former sides, West Ham United, he was sent-off for elbowing defender Marc Rieper
. He finishing his career in the UK with Swansea. During the summer of 1996 he had a brief spell in Norway
with Strømsgodset
scoring one goal.
, have indicated that they are preparing to sue the News of the World
for breach of privacy over suspicions that their voicemails, and those of their children, were illegally accessed by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. After writing to the police over their suspicions, the police informed them that there were four pieces of paper referring to Ash in Mulcaire's notebooks, and five items relating to Chapman. There were further items relating to their children.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
former footballer who scored almost 200 first-team goals as a striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
. He was best known for his spells at Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
and Leeds United. He is the son of former Lincoln City
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....
, Port Vale
Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...
and Chester
Chester City F.C.
Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...
striker, Roy Chapman.
Chapman is married to the actress Leslie Ash
Leslie Ash
Leslie Ash is an English actress, best known for her role in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly. Her book My Life Behaving Badly: The Autobiography was published in 2007....
, with whom he owns restaurants; So:uk in London and Teatro Leeds, in which one of his former clubs, Leeds United, is a shareholder. He previously owned another restaurant, Teatro in Soho, London.
Early career
Chapman began his career at Stoke CityStoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
, but made his league debut whilst on loan at Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...
. On his return to Stoke, Chapman quickly became a first team regular, scoring made 34 goals in 99 appearances between 1979 and 1982.
His goal scoring abilities brought him to the attention of Division One clubs, and in August 1982 Chapman moved to Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
for £500,000. However, the move was not a success - he made only 23 appearances for the club between 1982 and 1984, and scored a meagre 4 goals. Chapman moved on to Sunderland for the 1983-84 season, but again failed to establish himself in the team, scoring just 3 goals in 15 appearances.
Howard Wilkinson
Howard Wilkinson
Howard Wilkinson is a former English football player and manager, and has recently stepped down as a Non-Executive Director at Sheffield Wednesday after formerly relinquishing the chairman role to Milan Mandaric...
, then manager of Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
, signed Chapman in 1984, and at Wednesday he regained his goal scoring form; between 1984 and 1988 Chapman scored 63 goals in 149 appearances. However, Wilkinson moved on to manage Leeds United in 1988, and on his departure Chapman moved on briefly to French side Chamois Niort, before Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...
signed him for Nottingham Forest. Chapman was an integral part of the Forest team that won the Littlewoods Cup
League Cup
In association football, a League Cup or Secondary Cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament to be called "League Cup" was held in Scotland in 1946/47 and was entitled the Scottish...
and Simod Cup
Full Members Cup
The Full Members Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992....
in 1989, scoring two goals in the latter's final. He had a good season in the league as Forest finished third, though they never really looked like catching the leading pair of Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
(champions on goal difference) and runners-up Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
. However, Forest's failure to clinch the title in 1988-89
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
was not ultimately the end of Chapman's quest to be part of a title winning side.
In his time at the City Ground
City Ground
The City Ground is a football stadium in the West Bridgford area of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898, and has a capacity of 30,602 ....
, Chapman was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Chapman played in the rescheduled game at Old Trafford
Old Trafford (football)
Old Trafford is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 75,811, Old Trafford is the second-largest football stadium in England after Wembley, the third-largest in the United Kingdom and the eleventh-largest in Europe...
, which Liverpool won 3-1.
Leeds career
In early 1990 Howard Wilkinson paid Nottingham Forest £400,000 to recruit Chapman to Leeds United. Chapman was part of the Leeds team that won the Second DivisionFootball League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
title and promotion to the First Division in 1990. Leeds finished 4th in 1991, and the following season he was the top scorer as Leeds won the last-ever league title before the creation of the FA Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
. Chapman scored the club's first two goals in the new league at the start of the 1992-93
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
season, scoring twice in a 2-1 home win over Wimbledon
Wimbledon F.C.
Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...
. A year later Wilkinson began to rebuild his side, and Chapman was allowed to move to Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
for £250,000.
Later career
Chapman made a Premiership comeback just four months after moving to Portsmouth when West Ham UnitedWest Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
signed him for £250,000 in September 1993. Scoring on his West Ham debut on 18 September 1993 in a 2-0 away win against Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
, he played 51 games in all competitions scoring 11 goals. He remained in the Premiership when he moved on to Ipswich
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
for a fee of £70,000 in November 1994.
He played one game on loan for Southend United
Southend United F.C.
Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.-Stadium:The club has had...
in January 1995, scoring the consolation goal in the Shrimpers' 4-1 defeat at Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
.
During early 1996 he was loaned back to Leeds United where he played only two games. In his first, against one of his former sides, West Ham United, he was sent-off for elbowing defender Marc Rieper
Marc Rieper
Marc Rieper-Jensen is a Danish former professional football player, who most notably played as a central defender for English club West Ham United F.C. and Celtic F.C. from Scotland...
. He finishing his career in the UK with Swansea. During the summer of 1996 he had a brief spell in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
with Strømsgodset
Strømsgodset I.F.
Strømsgodset IF is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Gulskogen in Drammen. It has sections for association football, team handball and bandy, but is best known for the top-level football section known as Strømsgodset Toppfotball, which currently plays in the Norwegian Premier League...
scoring one goal.
News of the World legal action
Chapman and his wife, Leslie AshLeslie Ash
Leslie Ash is an English actress, best known for her role in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly. Her book My Life Behaving Badly: The Autobiography was published in 2007....
, have indicated that they are preparing to sue the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
for breach of privacy over suspicions that their voicemails, and those of their children, were illegally accessed by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. After writing to the police over their suspicions, the police informed them that there were four pieces of paper referring to Ash in Mulcaire's notebooks, and five items relating to Chapman. There were further items relating to their children.
External links
- Lee Chapman career summary at leeds-fans.org.uk
- Player stats - Chamois Niortais