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Lee Chapman

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Lee Chapman - click for larger image  Lee Chapman - click for larger image

Position Centre forward
Born 05 Dec 1959, Lincoln (England)
Height 190 cm
Weight 82 kg
International Caps England: 1 B, 1 U21

Club From To Apps Goals Sold for
Stoke City 01 Jun 1978 01 Aug 1982 99 34 £500000
Plymouth Argyle 01 Dec 1978   4 0 on loan
Arsenal 01 Aug 1982 01 Dec 1983 23 4 £200000
Sunderland 01 Dec 1983 01 Aug 1984 15 3 £100000
Sheffield Wednesday 01 Aug 1984 01 Jun 1988 149 63 £275000
Niort 01 Jun 1988 01 Oct 1988     £400000
Nottingham Forest 01 Oct 1988 10 Jan 1990 48 15 £400000
Leeds United 10 Jan 1990 01 Aug 1993 172 80 £250000
Portsmouth 01 Aug 1993 01 Sep 1993 5 2 £250000
West Ham United 01 Sep 1993 01 Jan 1995 40 7 £70000
Ipswich Town 01 Jan 1995 01 Mar 1996 22 1 £0
Southend United 01 Jan 1995   1 1 on loan
Leeds United 10 Jan 1996   2 0 on loan
Swansea City 01 Mar 1996 01 Jun 1996 7 4  

Leeds Career League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other
Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1989 - 1990 21 12 0   0   0   0  
1990 - 1991 38 21 6 3 7 4 0   4 3
1991 - 1992 38 16 1   5 4 0   0  
1992 - 1993 36(4) 13 4 1 3 2 5 1 0  
1995 - 1996 2   0   0   0   0  
Total 135(4) 62 11 4 15 10 5 1 4 3

Jabba's Comments

Lee Chapman was a classic brave centre-forward for Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest and several other clubs. His early promise at Stoke included a hat-trick scored at Elland Road, and brought him national attention, but his arrival at Arsenal coincided with a period of intense factionalism within the club and the dismissal of Terry Neill and Chapman had a far from happy time at Highbury. Another move to Sunderland to link up with former Stoke boss Alan Durban turned sour when he too was sacked. He finally struck it lucky with his next move, linking up with Wilko at Sheffield Wednesday - the long ball game suiting the big striker down to the ground.

Wednesday's lack of ambition was starting to drive both players and manager away, and Chapman left the club shortly before Wilko moved up the M1 to Leeds. A move to Forest looked likely, but he ended up in the middle of France, playing for Niort, a club whose finances were shaky to say the least. After a short while, it became clear how much of a basket case the club was and Lee was back in England with Forest.

Chapman was re-signed by Wilko halfway through the 1989-90 season, and his 12 goals helped make the difference between going up as champions instead of getting into the play-offs. His obvious contributions to the side that won the Championship in 1992 can't be overstated, and he finished as leading scorer each year before finally leaving the club in 1993. He did return to Leeds for a brief spell on loan, playing against West Ham and Liverpool in January 1996 - but that wasn't a totally happy comeback since he was red-carded by a cross-eyed ref who thought that he had deliberately aimed an elbow at a West Ham player as both men went for a 50-50 ball.

Now retired from the game, he is an occasional summariser on the TV and owns several successful clubs and restaurants in partnership with his wife, actress Leslie Ash.

Jabba says: Cheers to Ralph of Pride of Anglia for the photos.

Deni Marice says: He was a great player. I saw him when in Leeds 90/93 and I think he's good in the air and the shot is not too bad. As a tall player his speed is not too fast but his instinct as a striker is good.

Brian Durrant from The Sick Parrot says: When Ipswich bought Lee Chapman, we were quite optimistic as he had played some fine games against us in the past. However he was now somewhat injury-prone and even when fit, was nothing like the striker he had been at Leeds.

Tore Markussen says: The most brilliant I've ever seen Lee do, was taking down a high ball. It came from the center line.....far out to the left. He was standing on the 16m with his back to the goal. 4 defenders were also on a line outside the penalty area. He turned to his left with the ball dead on his foot...gently he swung the ball towards the goal....he was now on the 11m mark...the defenders didnt know what hit em..and all of em were standing still...he hammered it in the goal.... It was an awsome goal...I can still see it in my head. WORLD CLASS!

Dave says: Lee Chapman, like Brian Deane, must be one of the most under-rated players of the modern era. Never mind this fancy 'keep the ball on the ground stuff', if you've got players who are good in the air, play to their stengths. I used to see Lee play at Stoke and it was obvious he was eventually going to grace a top team - he did that at Leeds.

Jan Egil from OSLO, Norway says: Every Leeds fan should love this guy and what he did for the club. If you haven't seen him buy yourself a video tape of him. A true GOALSCORER.

Jono says: Lee Chapman is without doubt the best centre forward ive ever seen at Elland road ive had a season ticket since 88 and would still have chappy in my team now if he was still playing it was the best day of my life when we brought him back on loan but that went sour due to a poor refereeing decision against West ham thanks chappy WE ARE LEEDS

Elisabeth Craig says: Is Lee Chapman the son of Tony and Rita Chapman and brother of Nicky? If he is we knew him as a younngster in Cape Town where his Dad was playing alongside my husband and George Eastham. If it is the same Lee Chapman he will remember my Labrador, Katie. Jabba says: his dad was called Roy, so I guess it must be a different one!

Mike says: Just listeninig to Lee Chapman on Century FM. Sounds a thoroughly decent and well-balanced bloke, and he was indeed a top player in his time.

anon says: My dad dd not believe that lee played for leeds!!!!!!

graham heraty says: what i do for a player lke this to be playing on sat against arsenal. this is a true goalscorer and i dont no why he never played for england full team

Jacqueline says: Did Lee Chapman score the first English Premiership hat-trick? Jabba says: nope - Eric Cantona was certainly the first Leeds player to net a hat-trick in the Premiership on August 25 of the first season in the home game against Spurs.

Knut Fjellby says: A fantastic player. Almost as good as Svein Teigland.

Niall says: Lee played out his career as a favour to Jan Molby at Swansea, then a fast-sinking 2nd side side in 1995/6. He gave a good return in a limited amount of end-seasons games, playing up front alongside Steve Torpey (now at Scunthorpe). A particular memory was Lee getting a goal at Wycombe and turning away to blow a kiss to his wife Lesley Ash, who was sitting in the stand. No pretensions about him, top bloke.

Nattawan says: He sent me 2 letters (one with his pic)in 1993 and 1994 . What a wonderful thing . I live in Thailand and he was in Leeds and Westham . I really want to know his current address or email address so that I can write him a letter to tell him that how I am . I have not wriiten him for nearly 10 years .

Fred A says: Saw Lee play at for Leeds at Forest for Wilko's newly promoted Leeds, last game of the season. A cracker of a match, one of the most entertaining that I've ever been to: even though we lost 4-3 to an excellent Forest side, 2-0 down with only 15 minutes gone. The significant thing is that the Forest supporters were really giving Chapman some stick as a former player. He responded with 2 goals including his 200th career goal. Whilst probably not the most bewitching of players to watch, he did score some superb goals and his bravery and commitment to the cause were never in doubt: undeservedly the subject of derision simply for playing to his strengths and doing that to great effect for Leeds. A true Leeds legend.

James Akinfenwa says: Saw him on TV....he was simply marvelous!

Daryl Andrews says: he was terrible! i fink he was 1 of the most overated players ever 2 play in english football, he couldnt turn and even 4 a big lummox he was pretty poor in the air! His passing wasnt particularly good neither was his shot accuracy. on the whole i think he is nothing more than a lanky streak of p***!

Doc says: Was thinking about going to Chappo's new restaurant. I hear they have cracking ribs...

hrs says: I often watched Lee Chapman during his time at Stoke. He was an important part of one of the better Stoke teams of the last 30 years, and formed an excellent partnership up front with Adrian Heath, who went to Everton. It was Stoke's loss when he went.


Have your say

Did you see Lee Chapman play? Did you meet him in a pub, go to school with him, decorate his house or buy a motor from him? If you've got any comments or stories about Lee Chapman on or off the pitch, just fill in the form below and (provided they're not blatantly libellous) I'll add them to this page. And just a quick note to the spammers who try to add their links to this page by attempting to get round the client-side validation: don't bother - the server side does similar checks and throws your garbage straight into the bit bucket.

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