|
Born on 19th June 1971 in
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Height : . m (6' 0") Weight : kgs (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
League Debut : 4th November 1989 v Hartlepool United
Career Record Honours |
