George & John get David to sign on the dotted line 15th July 1987
David in the Sky Blue
On this day (15th July) in 1987 in the afterglow of the Sky Blues momentous Wembley F.A.Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur in May the Sky Blues deeply missed managerial pair of George Curtis and John Sillett made an eventful signing for the upcoming 1987-88 Division One season. The man who put pen to paper was David Speedie who came to Highfield Road from Chelsea for the princely sum of £780k!
Born in Glenrothes, Scotland on 20th February 1960 David began working life apprenticed as a Yorkshire miner but his footballing potential was soon spotted by Barnsley who gave him a professional contract in 1978. Two years later he moved to Darlington and with 21 goals from well over a century of professional games already under his belt David hit the big time with Chelsea. From 1982, until being signed by CCFC, the feisty forward turned out for the Stamford Bridge outfit 205 times and hit the scoresheet 64 times!
Three Stars at the Ricoh – Hucks & Speedie (with Noel Whelan)
‘Snoz’ bought David to Highfield Road to further boost their goal power and we certainly saw some spectacular and cheeky goals from him (he was a skilled exponent of the ‘chip’) as David continued to develop his sometimes controversial and combative style of play. By the time he left for Liverpool in January 1991 David had scored 35 Sky Blue goals in his 143 appearances. He scored both on his debut (in a 2-1 home win over our Cup Final opponents ‘Spurs in August 1987) and his last game (another 2-1 home win over Aston Villa in January 1991).
His time with the Reds did not really work out and David saw out his top level career with a succession of clubs including Blackburn Rovers (1991), Southampton (1992), Birmingham City (loan- 1992), West Bromwich Albion (loan -1993), West Ham United (loan-1993) and Leicester City (1993). He then dropped down to non-league with appearances for successively Crook Town, Stamford AFC, Hendon, Harrow Borough, Crawley Town and Darlington Railway.
David Speedie & Jim
David retired in the mid nineties to work for a Doncaster recruitment company and then as a Football Agent. David’s honours include a Division Two Champions medal (1984); a Full Members Cup Winners Medal in 1986 and ten International Caps for Scotland 1985-89 (five with CCFC).
David Speedie
David has been a CCFPA ‘special’ for a Ricoh home game and was attended CCFPA reunions including Legends Day 2019 (above left) and LD26 (left).
He was also a player at Golf Day ’19 (right with then CCFPA chairman Jim Brown) as well as GD22 and had a whale of a time at both these Association events!
To remind you of some of his best Sky Blue goals (courtesy of our former committee member Dean Nelson) click on the picture below:-