OYOGist.com has learned that Chelsea FC have reportedly made the decision to remove signs from the two entrances named after former players at Stamford Bridge. Former owner Ken Bates decided to name the entrances after ex-Blues stars Nigel Spackman and David Speedie.
Nigel James Spackman is an English football manager and former player who played as a midfielder from 1980 to 1998, notably for Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers amidst other clubs such as Bournemouth, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield United.
He signed for Chelsea while playing for Bournemouth at the Instruction of Ken Bates. On his first game for the club, he found the back of the net as Chelsea went 5-0 against a Derby side that was full of top stars.
David Robert Speedie is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the ’80s and ’90s most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He scored almost 150 goals in 500 league appearances.
He accumulated more than 500 football league appearances and scored almost 150 goals in a 14-year professional career. He scored another incredible hat-trick of headers in a sensational 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in a four year spell at City, during which he scored 31 goals in 122 top flight appearances.
Both played for the club during the 1980s, helping them to win the Second Division in 1984.
They were the only two entrances in the stadium named after former players and the decision has now been made to replace the names with directional and way-finding signage.
