Marieanne Spacey-Cale (née Spacey), (born 13 February 1966) is an English former international women's

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 ...

. Having played 91 times for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Spacey is considered one of the greatest English footballers of all time. She is currently Head of Girls and Women's football at

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play i ...

and head coach of Southampton FC Women.

Club career

Spacey was prevented from participating in boys' football at school but joined British Oxygen's women's team at the age of 13 in 1979. She played for Friends of Fulham under the tutelage of Fred Brockwell and was reported to have signed for Italian club Roi Lazio as a 19-year–old in 1985. Spacey also played for

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history i ...

in Finland. The Finnish move came about through Spacey's England teammate

Louise Waller Louise "Lou" Waller (born 30 July 1969) is an English former international women's football defender. She was a member of the England squad for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals. In a long association with Millwall Lionesses, Waller serve ...

, who had played for HJK the previous summer. After playing in Friends of Fulham's 3–2 WFA Cup

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

defeat to Leasowe Pacific at Old Trafford in April 1989, Spacey flew out to Helsinki with Waller and remained until September. Spacey then returned to England and scored 12 goals in the first five games of the 1991–92 season for her old club, who became known as Wimbledon Ladies in 1991. Spacey then spent eight seasons with Arsenal from 1993, before moving to Fulham on a professional contract in the 2002 close season. She had missed the second part of 1995–96 due to pregnancy. In her final season with Arsenal she was the leading goalscorer and FA Players' Player of the Year, also winning a

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...

special achievement award. Throughout her Arsenal career Spacey had enjoyed great success as a deep–lying forward player, helping The Gunners win numerous trophies.

Vic Akers Victor David Akers, OBE (born 24 August 1946) is a football manager and former player who was most recently the assistant manager at Boreham Wood. Akers played as a left back. He was also manager of Arsenal Ladies winning numerous trophies wi ...

said of Spacey's career in 2009: In 2002–03 Spacey won a domestic treble with Fulham.

International career

Spacey made her debut for

against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 20 August 1984. She played in all four of England's games at their first FIFA Women's World Cup appearance in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. Having finished playing for England with a respectable 76 appearances, Spacey was later recalled by

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Britain ...

to add experience in midfield. Spacey was surprised by the development: "I honestly thought that wouldn't happen again. When I got the letter my legs went weak. I've played 76 times for England and now I feel like the new girl!" She went on to play a total of 91 times for her country, scoring 28 goals before retiring after

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany w ...

, aged 36. Among Spacey's achievements with England were two Mundialito tournament wins in 1985 and 1988. She scored twice in the 1985 final against hosts

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

as England won 3–2 in

Caorle Caorle (; vec, Càorle) is a coastal town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy, located between the estuaries of the Livenza and Lemene rivers. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea between two other tourist towns, Eraclea ...

. In May 1990 Spacey scored at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in an

exhibition match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

played against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The following April she scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against the same opposition in a 5–0 friendly win at Adams Park in Wycombe. When

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

(FA) took over running the national team in 1993, Spacey plundered four goals in the first game that September, a 10–0 win over

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

International goals

Coaching career

Spacey has a UEFA Pro Licence. She became manager of Fulham Ladies when they reverted to semi–pro status in 2003, but left in 2006 after Fulham scrapped their women's team altogether. Later that year she became a senior coach for AFC Wimbledon Ladies. Spacey later coached the

Under–16, Under–17 and Under–19 teams as well as working in the coaching departments of Arsenal and Charlton Athletic. In November 2006 she was appointed girls and women's football development officer for the Worcestershire FA. In December 2013, Spacey was appointed assistant to England women's manager

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage. He has also been a manager of the England women's team. Playing career Born and raised in Creigiau, a suburb of Car ...

. She was part of Mark Sampson's coaching staff when the Lionesses came third at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada in 2015. In 2017, with Spacey as head coach, the England under-23 team won the Nordic tournament in Sweden, beating Norway 2–0 in the final match. In July 2018,

announced that Spacey would be joining as the head of girls and women's football technical department, based at the Staplewood Campus full-time and also overseeing the club's Regional Talent Club. The club said her appointment was intended to help their women's team's "future goal" of playing in the FA Women's Championship. Their initial bid, to join the inaugural Championship, was rejected by The FA. In her first season as head coach of the senior women's team, who play in the

FA Women's National League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

, Premier Division South, the team completed the double, winning the league title (with a perfect 18 wins from 18 games) and League Cup.

Honours

Spacey was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

in 2009. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for services to football.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spacey, Marieanne 1966 births Living people English women's footballers Arsenal W.F.C. players Fulham L.F.C. players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players English Football Hall of Fame inductees 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players English expatriate women's footballers English women's football managers Members of the Order of the British Empire Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (women) players Expatriate women's footballers in Finland Kansallinen Liiga players English expatriate sportspeople in Finland Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards