Tommy Langley

English footballer

Thomas William Langley (born 8 February 1958) is an English retired footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s as a striker. He is currently one of the hosts of Matchnight Live on Chelsea TV.

Langley began his career as an apprentice with Chelsea, making his debut in 1975 against Leicester City, when aged 16 years and 9 months. The club were relegated the same season and for the remainder of Langley's time there they bounced between the top two divisions. He first established himself in the side during Chelsea's first season back in the First Division in 1977–78, during which he scored 13 goals, making him the club's top scorer. The following year, Chelsea were near the bottom of the league all season and relegated by March, with Langley's 16 goals – more than three times the total managed by any of his teammates – a rare bright spot, for which he was voted club player of the year. During his career with Chelsea, he scored 43 goals in 152 games.

After Chelsea's failure to gain instant promotion in 1979–80, Langley joined Queens Park Rangers for £400,000 in August 1980. During his stint with QPR, he appeared in 25 games and scored 8 goals. including scoring against his old teammates on his debut, just two weeks after he switched from Chelsea and Scoring QPR's fastest league goal, after 12 seconds against Bolton on 11 October 1980.

Following his brief stay at QPR, Langley joined Crystal Palace in March 1981, for £200,000. where he played until 1983. During his time at Crystal Palace he appeared in 59 league games and scored 8 goals (71 and 10 in all competitions).

Langley won England Honours at Schoolboy, Under 21 and 'B' levels.

After Langley's playing days were over, he has still been a part of the game with a career in sport media. He took on his first presenting role as a commentator on Chelsea Radio in 1997. After the radio show, Langley went on to his role as Football Reporter on Channel 5's Breakfast News. Langley joined Chelsea TV when it launched, as a regular guest on the Live From Stamford Bridge phone in show. He is currently one of the semi regular presenters on the show, Matchnight Live. He is also used as a co commentator for Chelsea TV and is known to celebrate when Chelsea score important goals live on air. One such noted time was in Chelsea's 4–4 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, when Chelsea got the goal that gave them a 4–3 lead with three minutes to go, Langley let out a loud "YES". But when Spurs got the equaliser in stoppage time, a loud "NO" could be heard. Immediately after leaving football, he joined Nashua in Bracknell where he was in dealer sales for copiers and fax machines. His colleague was his ex Aldershot teammate, Graham Cox.