Lee Chapman

Chapman was born in Lincoln and began his career at Stoke City. He made his league debut whilst on loan at Plymouth Argyle in 1978–79. He made his debut for Stoke in a League Cup match against Swindon Town with Chapman scoring Stoke's goal in a 2–1 defeat. He soon became a vital player for Stoke top-scoring in both 1980–81 and 1981–82 which prompted Arsenal to pay Stoke £500,000 for his services. However, the move was not a success – he made 28 appearances for the club and scored 6 goals. Chapman moved to Sunderland in December 1983, but again failed to establish himself in the team, scoring just 4 goals in 17 appearances. Howard Wilkinson, then manager of Sheffield Wednesday, signed Chapman in August 1984, and at Wednesday he regained his goal scoring form; between 1984 and 1988 Chapman scored 79 goals in 186 appearances. However, Wilkinson moved on to manage Leeds United in 1988, and on his departure Chapman moved on briefly to French side Chamois Niortais. In October 1988, Brian Clough signed Chapman for Nottingham Forest. Chapman was an integral part of the Forest team that won the League Cup and Full Members Cup in 1989, scoring two goals in the latter's final. Chapman had a positive season in the league as Forest finished third, though they never looked likely to catch the leading pair of Arsenal (champions on goals scored) and runners-up Liverpool. However, Forest's failure to clinch the title in 1988–89 was not ultimately the end of Chapman's quest to be part of a…

Chapman made a Premier League comeback just four months after moving to Portsmouth when West Ham United signed him for £250,000 in September 1993. Making his West Ham debut along with other new signings Mike Marsh and David Burrows, Chapman scored in a 2–0 away win against Blackburn Rovers on 18 September 1993. He played 51 games in all competitions scoring 11 goals. He remained in the Premier League when he moved on to Ipswich for a fee of £70,000 in November 1994. He played one game on loan for Southend United in January 1995, scoring the consolation goal in the Shrimpers' 4–1 defeat at Grimsby Town. During early 1996 he was loaned back to Leeds United where he played only two games. In his first, against one of his former sides, West Ham United, he was sent-off for elbowing defender Marc Rieper. He finished his UK career with Swansea. During the summer of 1996 he had a brief spell in Norway with Strømsgodset scoring one goal.

Chapman was capped by both the England U21 and England B teams.

He is the son of former Lincoln City, Port Vale and Chester striker Roy Chapman. Chapman is married to the actress Leslie Ash, with whom he owns two restaurants: So:uk in London and Teatro Leeds (in which one of his former clubs, Leeds United, is a shareholder). He previously owned another Teatro restaurant in London's Soho.

News of the World legal action

In 2011 Chapman and his wife, Leslie Ash, indicated that they were preparing to sue the News of the World for breach of privacy over suspicions that their voicemails, and those of their children, were illegally accessed by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. After writing to the police over their suspicions, the police informed them that there were four pieces of paper referring to Ash in Mulcaire's notebooks, and five items relating to Chapman. There were further items relating to their children.