Chris Spendlove (born 18 December 1984) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Career

Youth, college, and amateur

As a schoolboy Spendlove played football for Everton and Preston North End. He was a five-year captain of district and regional representative squads back in his home town of Liverpool before he began his Undergraduate and master's degrees at

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

, playing with their soccer team during his four years there, recording 26 goals and 9 assists. During his college career, Spendlove also played with

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

club

GPS Portland Phoenix GPS Portland Phoenix was an American soccer team based in Portland, Maine. Founded in 2009, the team played in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference. It has not played ...

during their 2010 season.

Professional

Spendlove signed his first professional contract in February 2011, joining

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

club

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. History ...

. He made his professional debut on 17 April 2011, in Wilmington's first game of the 2011 season, a 1–0 win over the

Rochester Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos t ...

. Prior to the 2020 USL Championship season, Spendlove became the assistant coach at

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

Personal

In December 2014, Spendlove was arrested and charged with the murder of a police officer and two counts of malicious wounding in Liverpool, England. On 22 December, Oklahoma City Energy dismissed him as a result. During the subsequent murder trial at Liverpool Crown Court, it was alleged that Spendlove had struck PC Steventon whilst he was on the floor. CCTV was released by

Merseyside Police Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police of ...

following the trial which appears to show the alleged punch. Spendlove was accused of watching out for his two friends whilst they attacked the officers. In July 2015 he was cleared of all charges, while his two co-defendants were convicted.

References

External links

Oklahoma City University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spendlove, Chris Living people 1984 births English men's footballers Footballers from Liverpool Men's association football defenders Oklahoma City Stars men's soccer players Austin Aztex U23 players GPS Portland Phoenix players Wilmington Hammerheads FC players Oklahoma City FC (NPSL) players North West Counties Football League players USL League Two players USL Championship players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Oklahoma State Cowgirls soccer coaches OKC Energy FC coaches Hartford Athletic coaches Miami FC coaches People acquitted of murder English football managers English expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States