Derek Spence

Derek William Spence (born 18 January 1952) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer. He played as a forward in a career spanning seventeen years from 1969 to 1986.

He played for clubs in Northern Ireland, England, Greece, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. He also played for Northern Ireland.

Club career Belfast-born Spence started his career with Irish League club Crusaders in 1969, before making the short trip to England in 1971 to join Fourth Division side Oldham Athletic, signing his contract in a local pub to earn £18 a week.

In 1976, Spence joined Second Division side Blackpool, and made his debut for the Seasiders against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest on 16 October. He complemented the twin striking powers of Mickey Walsh and fellow new signing Bob Hatton. However, at the end of the season he found his place under threat from Stan McEwan.

A serious injury kept Spence out of the entire 1977–78 campaign, which ended with Blackpool's relegation to the Third Division for the first time in their history.

Spence then joined Greek Alpha Ethniki club Olympiacos, where he made 21 league appearances, scoring six goals. He then returned to Blackpool, who were then playing in the Third Division, for a fee of £27,000 and joined forces with Tony Kellow, who had signed from Exeter City. Between them, they scored 27 goals in the 1978–79 season, nearly half of the team's total, with Spence top scorer on sixteen goals. Speaking about his return to Lancashire, he said "I made quite a lot of money from my time in Greece, but being there put me in the international wilderness. From being a regular in the squad, I became an outcast. So, despite the crowd being fantastic and the players who loved me, I moved back to England."

He ended his international career after discovering, via Teletext, that Billy Bingham had left him out of the 1982 World Cup squad.

Post-football career

Spence ran his own off-licences in Walmersley, Bury, Greater Manchester, firstly, and then in Hambleton, Lancashire. He eventually returned to his first love of football by setting up his own coaching school, Sportslink. Then in 1996 he returned to Blackpool F.C. as the club's Football in the Community Officer, succeeding fellow ex-Tangerine and Shaker Craig Madden, a role he fulfilled until 2016, when he retired.

Personal life Born in Belfast in 1952, Spence was one of seven children. In 1970, at the age of 18, he had the option of staying in Northern Ireland and practise his trade as a joiner, or leave to try his fortunes in England. With terrorism rife in his homeland, he asked his father for advice. "He said, 'Well, if I were you, son, I'd get out.'"

Spence is married to Lyn, with whom he has two children, Thomas and Erin. He also has two children, Leanna and Matthew, from his first marriage.

Honours

Southend United Fourth Division champions: 1980–81

Autobiography Spence released a book about the early part of his life and playing career in 2019. The title, From the Troubles to the Tower, references the troubles in Northern Ireland and Blackpool Tower.