John SPENCER

Chelsea manager Ian Porterfield's recruitment drive in the summer of 1992 included three strikers. He paid a club record £2.1 million to take Norwich City's Robert Fleck to London for an ill-fated spell at Stamford Bridge and also signed Luton Town's battering-ram Mick Harford. By the end of the 1992/93 season Harford had moved on to Sunderland and Fleck, having suffered a miserable campaign, was stuck in a rut from which his career never recovered. The man who had replaced him in the side, and would go on to prove to be by far the most successful purchase of the three, was John Spencer. The livewire Glaswegian, who joined from Glasgow Rangers for £450, 000, was prevented from making much of an early impact through injury but a few substitute appearances, most notably in a 1-1 draw against Southampton on Boxing Day when he created a last minute goal for Eddie Newton, and in a 4-2 home defeat by Manchester City where he scored his first goal for the club, gave the supporters promising glimpses of what he had to offer. However, he had to wait until the end of January for his full debut and it was a neat header by the 5ft 6in hitman which earned the Blues a point at QPR that day.

Porterfield was sacked in February and his short-term replacement, David Webb, made Spencer a feature in his side for the remainder of the term. He repaid Webb's faith with some sterling performances and a total of seven goals from just 13 starts. After starting in the first match of Glenn Hoddle's managerial tenure, John was surprisingly dropped to the substitute's bench and failed to return to the starting line-up until an FA Cup 4th round replay at Sheffield Wednesday. Spencer opened the scoring that night to set Chelsea on their way to a 3-1 extra-time victory and he followed that goal by netting in each of the next three games, including a 2-1 win at Oxford in the next round of the Cup. The Blues League form was disappointing that season and Spencer's five goals from 13 starts were invaluable in the battle against relegation, but they excelled in the FA Cup and reached the Final against Manchester United. Having linked-up well with Tony Cascarino to create both goals in the semi-final against Luton at Wembley, John formed a miniature strike force with Mark Stein for the Final against Manchester United. Sadly, Chelsea were beaten 4-0 and Spencer left the field in tears. (Kelvin Barker)

Chelsea's 1994/95 season began with three straight wins, including a 3-2 triumph at Leeds where Spencer earned a first-half penalty and then scored a late brace to put the seal on a stunning comeback after the home side had opened up an early 2-0 lead. He scored two more as Leicester were beaten 4-0 but was injured later in that game and forced to spend a month on the sidelines. His impact when he returned to the side for a European Cup Winners Cup clash in Vienna was stunning. After a goalless draw in the first leg, John shocked the home crowd when he picked up a clearance on the edge of his own box and raced the length of the field unchallenged before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home a famous goal which was enough to secure an away goals rule victory. That goal sparked another run of three goals in three games, including the only goal of a tight clash at Nottingham Forest, but when the Blues began to struggle for points Hoddle chose to change his formation and played Spencer in the hole behind Mark Stein and Paul Furlong. Goals against Charlton in the FA Cup and Sheffield Wednesday followed but results remained poor and the situation was not helped when Spencer suffered an injury against Crystal Palace in March which he struggled to overcome throughout the remainder of the campaign. Nevertheless, he finished the season as the club's top scorer with eleven League goals from 26 starts.

As Chelsea made a bid for the big-time and Hoddle splashed out on talent such as Ruud Gullit, Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu, John's Chelsea career continued to follow a very similar pattern as previously. A spiteful stamp on his head by Julian Dicks couldn't stop a patched-up Spencer scoring a brace and earning a penalty in a 3-1 win at West Ham but he was dropped soon after and didn't return until December. To his credit he bounced back well, a stunning shot at Highbury earned a draw and two more against Liverpool a fortnight later, including a spectacular bicycle kick, were also worth a point to the Blues. John again finished the season as top scorer with 13 goals from 26 starts, his end of season form helping Chelsea to an FA Cup semi-final where his late shot was cleared off the line by Eric Cantona as Manchester United won 2-1 against a Blues side ravaged by injuries and suspensions. The arrival of Gianluca Vialli and the pursuit of Gianfranco Zola confirmed Spencer's suspicions that he had little or no part to play in new manager Ruud Gullit's revolution. He defiantly set about his task of proving Gullit wrong, scoring at Blackpool in the Coca-Cola Cup on his first start of the season and also finding the net in the return leg but he was given just four substitute appearances in the League. He was selected alongside Mark Hughes for Chelsea's ill-fated trip to Bolton in the third round of the Coca-Cola Cup but Chelsea lost and that was to be his last appearance. Amidst complaints of being frozen out by the manager, John Spencer signed for QPR that November for an impressive price tag of £2, 500, 000. (Kelvin Barker)