LEE CHAPMAN

Born: 05 December 1959

Came from: Stoke City   Went to: Stoke City

First game: 09 December 1978   Last game: 30 December 1978

Appearances: 4 (3/1)   Goals: 0

Born in Lincoln, Chapman's extraordinary career spanned 14 clubs in 18 years in the professional game, much of which within the highest echelons of English football. Yet it is a lesser known fact that the 6' 2'' striker's Football League debut was for Argyle.

His father Roy had been a professional footballer and Lee followed in his footsteps. Beginning his career at Stoke City, he was given his debut by Malcolm Allison whilst on loan at Home Park in December 1978, playing four times but failing to score. Returning to Stoke he broke into the first team in 1979, playing 99 League games and scoring 34 times before coming to the attention of Arsenal. Moving to Highbury he played 23 times and scored just four goals in two years before moving to Sunderland. He had similar problems establishing himself at Roker Park, playing just 15 games and scoring three in the 1983-84 season.

In a career-defining move, he was then signed by Howard Wilkinson for Sheffield Wednesday and rediscovered his goalscoring prowess, netting 63 times in 149 games across four seasons. After Wilkinson's departure to Leeds, Chapman tried his luck abroad, signing briefly for French side Chamois Nortais, where he played ten matches, scoring three in 1988. He returned to England to sign for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest later that year, and in a two-year spell he played 48 games and scored 15 times for the Reds, experiencing the high of being part of the Forest team that won the League and Full Members' Cups in 1989, scoring twice at the old Wembley in the final of the latter, yet also the awful low of being a Forest player on the day of the Hillsborough Disaster.

In 1989 Howard Wilkinson signed him again, for Leeds United this time, for £400,000. He was an immediate success, helping United win the Second Division title in 1990. He was an integral part of the Leeds team that won the last ever First Division title, prior to the formation of the Premier League. During his spell at Leeds, his form was rewarded with a single England B cap in 1991. With the title won, Wilkinson began rebuilding his team, and a free transfer to Portsmouth followed, where he played five matches, scoring twice in 1993. Just four months later a Premiership comeback beckoned with West Ham when he signed for £250,000 in September 1993, going on to score seven times in 40 appearances. He later maintained his Premiership status by moving to Ipswich Town in November 1994 for £70,000 scoring a single goal in 22 games. During this time, he was loaned out twice: with Southend United where he played a single game scoring once and a brief return to Leeds United where he played two further games without adding to his goals total. In 1996 a move to his last Football League club, Swansea City, was completed when he played seven matches, scoring four times before winding down his career with a five game spell with Strømsgodset in Norway, to finish with an impressive career total of 197 goals from 552 Football League appearances.

After retiring from the game he maintained a high profile through football punditry, owning a series of bars and restaurants and his marriage to the television actress Leslie Ash.