Mike Speight (born 1 November 1951,

Upton, West Yorkshire Upton is a village and civil parish in West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 3,541 in the 2001 census. It is situated south of Badsworth and north of North Elmsall and is part of the SESKU (South Elmsall, South Kirkby, Upton) area ...

) is an English former footballer who had a long spell with Sheffield United and later had a five–month caretaker manager stint at Chester City in 1984–85.

Playing career

A midfielder, Speight made 199

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

appearances for Sheffield United after signing full professional forms in 1969. One of the highlights of this spell was being part of the England B side on their tour of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

.''Focus on Mike Speight'', Chester City v. Tranmere Rovers matchday programme, 3/10/84, p. 13 He left after a testimonial in 1980 for Blackburn Rovers for a reported £60,000, having rejected the chance to join Bobby Robson's

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

side two years earlier. He made 51 league appearances for Rovers before moving on to Grimsby Town in the summer of 1982. After a further 40 league appearances, Speight moved on again two years later. He retired as a player in

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

in November 1994.

Managerial career

In August 1984 Speight joined Chester as player–coach as he sought to achieve his ambition of managing a

club by the age of 35. The sacking of manager John McGrath four months later meant Speight achieved his ambition as he became caretaker–manager, a role he held until the end of the season. Speight instilled new belief in the side as it pulled away from the bottom of

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

, with new signing

Stuart Rimmer Stuart Alan Rimmer (born 12 October 1964) is an English former footballer who is Chester City's record goalscorer. He scored 134 Football League goals in two spells for Chester, and also represented seven other clubs during his professional ca ...

from Everton proving a prolific capture. Despite the impressive run of results, Speight had to stand aside in July 1985 when former

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

manager Harry McNally was appointed the new Chester boss. Speight had earlier in the year been announced as manager, but he had not signed a contract and had been openly critical of the way the club operated, saying it was "run on an amateur level right through the place". Speight continued playing for the club in the early weeks of the 1985–86 season but he began looking for new opportunities and took up a management post in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

midway through the campaign, after a brief spell with Rhyl. He spent the late 1980s and early 1990s as a playing manager in several Norwegian clubs. He still lives in Norway, where he has been head coach at several clubs, including

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

, Sprint/Jeløy and

Mjøndalen Mjøndalen is a built up area in Drammen municipality in Viken county (formerly Buskerud county), Norway. It is situated south of the Drammenselva River opposite of Krokstadelva. History Mjøndalen has traditionally been a railway site most k ...

. On 23 November 2007, he was appointed offensive coach at

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speight, Mick 1951 births Living people English footballers English Football League players Chester City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players FK Vidar players Moss FK players Norwegian First Division players Association football midfielders England B international footballers English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway English expatriate sportspeople in Norway English football managers Chester City F.C. managers English expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Norway FK Vidar managers Moss FK managers Sogndal Fotball managers Vålerenga Fotball non-playing staff Kongsberg IF managers