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Born on 19th June 1971 in
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England.
Height : 6'
Weight : 12st 10lbs
After working packing beef burgers and playing
for Llay Welfare FC in the Welsh Football League, Chris started his league
career with Wrexham after joining on a free transfer in March 1989
where he played 60 games, scoring 13 goals, before moving to Millwall (28
games, 5 goals) for £50,000 in August 1991 and then, after one
season, he was transferred across South London to Crystal Palace (118
games, 45 goals) for £1 million, where he won a
Division One champions medal in 1994.
Signed by Tottenham in 30th June 1995 for £4.5
million to replace the departing Jurgen Klinsmann and play up front with
Teddy Sheringham. The partnership appeared to get off to a bad start
with comments attributed to Sheringham appearing in the papers which were
not complimentary to his new striking partner.
Another
of our injury-hit players, who was demoted to the bench
following Jurgen Klinsmann's "must-play" condition in his
contract. On occasion he looked very sharp and then he seemed to completely lose it. Good in the air and
able to set
up opportunities as well as score, but needed to get into
the game more as he sometimes flitted around the fringes of
the play.
When fully returned to fitness,
he had pace to worry any defence and "Armo"
vied with Steffen Iversen, Les Rebrov and Teddy Sheringham up front. Found a vein of scoring form
in 1998/99 and needed to produce at this time or the rumours
of his departure and other clubs interest in his services could have become reality.
Chris was a substitute in the Worthington Cup final win over Leicester
City at Wembley. This lead to him winning an England B cap just
before the European Championship finals of 2000, with him being touted
as an outside bet for the full England squad under Kevin Keegan, as he
was an unused sub in the match against Poland at Wembley in March
1999.
The
2000-2001 season, much like 1999-2000, saw Armstrong again injured. He did come good in the latter part
of spring 2000, edging towards Iversen as top scorer. Unfairly,
he took the brunt of the criticism from the fans for a poor run
of results after Christmas 1999, but his long-term future was hindered
by injuries that saw him barely play for two years and he was released
in May at the end of the 2001-02 season. He first went to Bolton
Wanderers on 28th August 2002, where he never shook off his injury
problems and returned to Wrexham on 22nd July 2003, where he helped
the cash-strapped side to the LDV Vans Trophy win in 2005.
Chris
was a player who never really showed Spurs fans what he was capable of
through persistent injuries
with a record of 48 goals in his 141 games for the club. The abiding memory of many fans
will be his unhappiness at scoring goals, when he was getting so much
stick from the supporters.
Nickname : "Armo", "Stretch"
Career Record
| Club |
Signed |
Fee |
Debut |
Apps |
Goals |
| Llay Welfare FC (Wales) |
|
|
?? |
?? |
?? |
| Wrexham |
3rd March 1989 |
Free |
29th August 1989 v Wigan
Athletic (LC) |
60 |
13 |
| Millwall |
16th August 1991 |
£50,000 |
?? |
28 |
5 |
| Crystal Palace |
1st September 1992 |
£1,000,000 |
?? |
118 |
45 |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR |
30th
June 1995 |
£4,500,000 |
|
141 |
48 |
| Bolton Wanderers |
28th August 2002 |
Free |
?? |
|
|
| Wrexham |
22nd July 2003 |
Free |
?? |
|
|
League Debut : 4th November
1989 v Hartlepool United
Honours
England international
1 B cap; 0 goals
Under-21 caps; goals
Division 1 championship winners medal 1993-94 (Crystal Palace)
League Cup Winners medal 1999 (Tottenham Hotspur) |