Initially born on Tyneside, Chris Armstrong spent most of his time as a young sprog growing up in North Wales with his foster parents. After subsequently giving up the game at the grand old age of 16 to work in a burger van, Armstrong was encouraged to give football another chance.
Soon The player was picked up by Wrexham and then Millwall before Crystal Palace saw plenty in a striker that had pace to burn and a keen eye for goal.
Armstrong netted 22 goals for the Eagles the season before the first division’s infamous transformation into the Premier League, with Palace finishing an impressive 10th in the league.
With the player eligible for a host of countries due to his family roots, Republic of Ireland, Wales and Nigeria would all came calling. Nigeria even named him in their 1994 World Cup squad in the hope he would choose them. All countries, however, were wasting their time after it emerged Armstrong had it written in his contract that he’d only be eligible for the Three Lions – with the league’s clubs only being allowed to register so many ‘foreign’ players being a prime reason for the contract addition.
It would be during his Palace tenure that Armstrong would feel the full force of the FA’s might after failing a post-match drug test. The Football Association taking exception to the traces of Cannabis found in the forwards bloodstream. Performance enhancing it wasn’t, still, Armstrong was dealt a hefty ban.
Spurs
After a three year spell with the Eagles in which Armstrong notched up 45 goals in 118 games, the player signed for Tottenham Hotspurs for £4.5 million.
The move across London, however, proved unsuccessful as a seven-season period resulted in a 48 goals in 141 appearances. Not a baron spell by any means, however the striker was frustrated by a lack of first team action, largely due to injury and the talents of a certain Les Ferdinand.
The player did however heed the call of the England national team during his Spurs tenure. The then manager and Geordie hero Kevin Keegan called up the Newcastle born striker for an impending World Cup qualifier due to an injury crisis.
Whilst Armstrong never did make a full appearance in the end, he did receive a cap playing for the England B side.
The player currently leads a quite life away from the game, however achieved bemusing internet notoriety after being snapped with large dreadlocks.
Here’s however a video of the man in action during his pomp.
