Tommy Langley
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 8 February 1958 | ||
| Place of birth | Elephant & Castle, London, England | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| ?–1975 | Chelsea | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1974–1980 | Chelsea | 142 | (40) |
| 1980–1981 | Queens Park Rangers | 25 | (8) |
| 1981–1983 | Crystal Palace | 59 | (8) |
| 1983–1984 | AEK Athens | 5 | (0) |
| 1983–1984 | Coventry City | 2 | (0) |
| 1984–1985 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 23 | (4) |
| 1984–1985 | Aldershot | 16 | (4) |
| 1985–1986 | South China | ? | (?) |
| 1986–1988 | Aldershot | 81 | (21) |
| 1988–1989 | Exeter City | 21 | (2) |
| 1989 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 | (1) |
| 1989–1991 | Slough Town | 56 | (19) |
| 1991 | Aylesbury United | 2 | (1) |
| 1991 | St Albans City | 5 | (1) |
| 1992 | Basingstoke Town | ||
| 1992 | Staines Town | ||
| 1992–1993 | Wokingham Town | ||
| National team‡ | |||
| 1978 | England U21 | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:07, 15 April 2007 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Tommy Langley (born 8 February 1958 in the Elephant & Castle, London) is an English retired footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s as a striker. He is currently one of the hosts of Matchnight Live on Chelsea TV.
Playing career
Chelsea
Langley began his career as an apprentice with Chelsea, making his debut in 1975 against Leicester City, when aged 16 [1] years and 9 months . The club were relegated the same season and for the remainder of Langley's time there they bounced between the top two divisions. He first established himself in the side during Chelsea's first season back in the First Division in 1977–78, during which he scored 13 goals, making him the club's top scorer. The following year, Chelsea were near the bottom of the league all season and relegated by March, with Langley's 16 goals – more than three times the total managed by any of his team mates – a rare bright spot, for which he was voted club player of the year. During his career with Chelsea, he scored 43 goals in 152 games.
England Honours
Langley won England Honours at Schoolboy, Under-21 and 'B' levels.[2]
Queens Park Rangers
After Chelsea's failure to gain instant promotion in 1979–80, Langley joined Queens Park Rangers in August 1980. During his stint with QPR, he appeared in 25 games and scored 8 goals.
Crystal Palace
Following his brief stay at QPR, Langley joined Crystal Palace in March 1981,[3] where he played until 1983. During his time at Crystal Palace he appeared in 59 games and scored 8 goals.
AEK Athens and Coventry City
In 1983,[3] Langley left English football for a spell with AEK Athens. Langley only managed to appear in five matches for the Greek club and returned to England to play for Coventry City halfway into the season. Langley appeared in two games for Coventy. During his seven combined appearances with the two sides during the 1983–84 season, he did not manage to score any goals.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
After a somewhat disappointing '83–'84 season, Langley joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1984 where he managed to score four goals in 23 appearances. He finished the '84–'85 season at Aldershot Town where he scored another four goals in 16 games for The Shots.
South China AA
After his stint with the Wanderers and Aldershot, Langley left Europe in 1985 to play for Hong Kong based South China.
Aldershot F.C.
After spending a year in Asia, Langley returned to England and rejoined Aldershot in 1986. He spent two more years with the club appearing in 81 matches and scoring 21 goals.
Exeter City
Langley then went on to finish his English career with Exeter City where he appeared in 21 matches scoring two goals during the 1988–89 season with the club.
Tampa Bay Rowdies
He left Europe for the second time in 1989 this time going to the United States to play for the now defunct, Tampa Bay Rowdies in the American Soccer League.[4]
After football
After Langley's playing days were over, he has still been a part of the game with a career in sport media. Tommy took on his first presenting role as a commentator on Chelsea Radio in 1997. After the radio show, Langley went on to his role as Football Reporter on Channel 5's Breakfast News. Langley joined Chelsea TV when it launched, as a regular guest on the 'Live From Stamford Bridge' phone-in show. He is currently one of the semi-regular presenters on the show, Matchnight Live.[5] He is also used as a co-commentator for Chelsea TV and is known to celebrate when Chelsea score important goals live on air. One such noted time was in Chelsea's 4–4 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, when Chelsea got the goal that gave them a 4–3 lead with three minutes to go, Langley let out a loud "YES". But when Spurs got the equaliser in stoppage time, a loud "NO" could be heard.
Immediately after leaving football, he joined Nashua in Bracknell where he was in dealer sales for copiers and fax machines. His colleague was his ex Aldershot team-mate, Graham Cox.
References
- ↑ Chelsea Football Club The Full Statistical Story 1905-1986 by Scott Cheshire and Ron Hockings ISBN 0-9511640-0-7
- ↑ Chelsea Football Club The Full Statistical Story by Scott Cheshire and Ron Hockings ISBN 0-9511640-0-7
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mike Purkiss & Nigel Sands. Crystal Palace: A Complete Record 1905–1989. p. 332. ISBN 0907969542.
- ↑ 1989 American Soccer League. A-leaguearchive.tripod.com (27 January 2007). Retrieved on 9 January 2012.
- ↑ Tommy Langley. chelseafc.com
External links
- Tommy Langley on the Chelsea in America Celebrity Podcast (2009).
- Tommy langley stats at neilbrown
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