Lee Chapman

Infobox Football biography
playername = Lee Chapman


fullname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1959|12|5
cityofbirth = Lincoln
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=2
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1978-1982
1978
1982-1983
1983-1984
1984-1988
1988
1988-1990
1990-1993
1993
1993-1995
1995
1995-1996
1996
1996
1996
clubs = Stoke City
→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)
Arsenal
Sunderland
Sheffield Wednesday
Chamois Niortais
Nottingham Forest
Leeds United
Portsmouth
West Ham United
→ Southend United (loan)
Ipswich Town
→ Leeds United (loan)
Swansea City
Strømsgodset I.F.
Career
caps(goals) = 099 0(34)
004 00(0)
023 00(4)
015 00(3)
149 0(63)
048 0(15)
137 0(62)
005 00(2)
040 00(7)
001 00(1)
022 00(1)
002 00(0)
007 00(4)
008 00(3)
552 (165)
nationalyears = 1991
nationalteam = England B
nationalcaps(goals) = 1 (0)

Lee Chapman (born Lincoln, December 5, 1959) is an English former footballer who scored more than 200 first-team goals as a striker. 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 currently owns a number of restaurants and bars.

Early career

Chapman began his career at Stoke City, 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 1982 Chapman moved to Arsenal. 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 depature Chapman moved on briefly to French side Chamois Niort, before Brian Clough signed him for Nottingham Forest in 1988. Although a regular for Forest, the team was struggling, and Chapman could only provide 15 goals in 48 appearances in his time at the club.

Leeds career

In 1989 Wilkinson re-signed Chapman for Leeds, paying Forest £400,000. Chapman was an immediate success at Leeds; his goals helped Leeds win the Second Division title and promotion to the First Division in 1990. Any doubts that he would thrive at the top level were banished the following season as Leeds finished 4th in 1991; in the following season, Leeds won the last-ever league title before the creation of the FA Premier League, with Chapman as the Division One top scorer in all competitions.

A year later Wilkinson began rebuiliding his side, and Chapman was allowed to move to Portsmouth on a free transfer.

Later career

Chapman made a Premiership comeback just four months after moving to Portsmouth when West Ham signed him. He later stayed in the Premiership when he moved on to Ipswich.

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 and therefore theoretically becoming Southend's most prolific goalscorer with a 100% strike rate.

During early 1996 he was loaned back to Leeds, before finishing his career in the UK with Swansea. During the summer of 1996 he had a brief spell in Norway with Stromsgodset.

References

*soccerbase|id=1412|name=Lee Chapman
* [http://www.leedsfans.org.uk/leeds/players/452.html Lee Chapman career summary] at [http://www.leedsfans.org.uk/leeds/index.html leedsfans.org.uk]