Michael Speight (born 1 November 1951) is an English former footballer who had a long spell with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and later had a five–month caretaker manager stint at Chester City in 1984–85.

Early life

Speight was born in

Upton, West Yorkshire Upton is a village in the civil parish of Upton and North Elmsall, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 3,541 in the 2001 census. It is situated south of Badsworth and north of North Elmsall and is ...

Playing career

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, Speight made 199

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

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 the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

.''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 Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

for a reported £60,000, having rejected the chance to join

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

side two years earlier. He made 51 league appearances for Rovers before moving on to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

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 plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

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. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

, 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 car ...

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 a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

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 countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

midway through the campaign, after a brief spell with

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

. 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 List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

, Sprint/Jeløy and

Mjøndalen Mjøndalen is a built up area in Drammen municipality in Buskerud, Buskerud county, Norway. It is situated south of the Drammenselva River opposite of Krokstadelva. History Mjøndalen has traditionally been a railway site most known as an indu ...

. 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 i ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Speight, Mick 1951 births Living people English men's 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 Men's association football midfielders England men's B international footballers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's 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 People from Upton, West Yorkshire Sportspeople from the City of Wakefield Footballers from West Yorkshire