Better than a journeyman but far from a star in Britain, John Spencer has sparked the Rapids' revival with his utter professionalism and incisive skills in the attacking third.
HE PLAYS THE GAME IN A FURY, much as he must have done under the streetlights in Glasgow while growing up.
Unfazed by asphalt and concrete and dim lighting, John Spencer did as young Scottish lads have done for decades: Play as much as you can for as long as you can as hard as you can. And get out of the way just long enough to let the cars go by.
''We didn't have a lot of fields roundabout us,'' says Spencer in a Glaswegian accent that is thick but not impenetrable. ''We'd put down a couple of sweatshirts and use them for the goalposts. We just played on the asphalt, but it wasn't a problem. We had a lot of good times and never complained.''
Spencer, 33, has brought that same zeal and stamina and streetwise savvy to Colorado, which in his third MLS season has transformed a disastrous start into, perhaps, a storybook finish.
''He lifts people around him,'' says former U.S. midfielder John Harkes, who himself is of Scottish descent and played against Spencer when both were in the English Premier League. ''He always wants that responsibility. He takes that leadership role all the time throughout the 90 minutes. When things are going bad, some star players kind of hide and fade out from the game. He never does that.''
He was never known as a star player before coming to play in America and laughs at the notion. Yet both he and his team have gone through an amazing ascendancy, and the future looks bright.
Things were terrible, not bad, for the Rapids in the early going. They didn't win any of their first six games and were 2-8-3 after 13 games, nearly halfway through the MLS season.
Spencer had scored five goals, but the rest of the team had combined for only seven. The Rapids were battling with the gasping Galaxy and blundering Burn to stay out of the Western Conference cellar.
''Obviously, there are going to be ups and downs in professional sports,'' says Spencer. 'We knew our capabilities. In the locker room before games I'd say the quality we have is tremendous, right up there with the best teams in MLS.''
With nine victories in the next 13 games, including six straight wins, the Rapids clinched a playoff spot and are squarely up there among the league's elite.
''At the beginning, when we were struggling, he pushed that we didn't need to make changes, we don't need to be trading players away, that we had a good team and things just weren't going well,'' says Colorado teammate Chris Henderson. ''Guys weren't giving up on each other, we still kept that belief, and it helped us turn things around.''
PIECES OF THE PUZZLE. Nat Borchers has emerged as an ideal partner for Robin Fraser in central defense. Henderson and Mark Chung are scything up defenses. Scott Garlick has held off the challenge of Joe Cannon to stabilize the goalkeeping.
Marshaling it all is Spencer, who chatters constantly, punches the air and kisses his wedding ring when he scores, and berates himself whenever he fouls up, which isn't all that often.
''If he's checking for the ball and has a poor touch, he gets on himself,'' says Henderson, who has adjusted to constant screams for the ball from a shaven-skulled, slightly deranged 5-foot-7 Scotsman. ''He's been through the battles. He has that belief, 'If I just get one chance, I can win this game or put this one away.'''
He did just that against Kansas City Sept. 13 by nudging Nick Garcia out of the way to head home the only goal of the game from a corner kick.
''He's the smallest guy on the pitch and he gets the header that wins the game,'' marvels Harkes.
Two weeks earlier, the Quakes fell, 2-1. A first-time flick from Spencer set up Chung for a half-volley from a tight angle. Spencer bagged the winner himself by nailing a low blast on a feed from forward mate Chris Carrieri for his 12th goal of the season.
''He does everything correctly,'' says San Jose coach Frank Yallop, another EPL veteran whose overseas playing career with Ipswich ended in 1995. ''For his size, he's great in the air. He's a hard worker, good passer and a great finisher. Just a very, very good player.''
Spencer's form in 2003 is a reversal of an injury-marred 2002 campaign during which he played only 16 games and scored five goals. He had debuted in 2001 with 14 goals and seven assists for 35 points – third-best in MLS – as the Rapids struggled to a 5-13-8 record.
As it had done before, adversity sharpened his resolve.
''He went through that bad season with the Rapids in 2001,'' said Henderson. ''I had it in K.C. before we won the title, and Chungie had it in New York. You learn a lot from those times, not to panic, and [that] it's a long season.''
Spencer signed with Glasgow Rangers at age 17 but played only 13 first-team games in five seasons and spent one year in Hong Kong on loan.
''It was a great culture shock for me,'' he says of a season spent with the Lai Sun club in a low-key league made up mostly of Asians yet sprinkled with Brits and Australians. ''It changed my whole outlook on the game.
''We trained on a local field. I went back to Rangers with a different attitude. It made me knuckle down to work even harder, because I realized not everybody can be with a club where everything is first-class.''
A loaded Rangers lineup proved impossible to break, which didn't terribly displease the Spencer household. ''My whole family were Celtic fans, so it was a bit of a change for all of them,'' he recalls.
The EPL was next. A good spell at Chelsea – 36 goals in 103 league games – was followed by a short stint with Everton. He scored 22 goals in 48 First Division games for Queen's Park Rangers and then went back to Scotland with Motherwell.
THAT ELUSIVE TITLE. He's always been a solid player who somehow missed out on the glorious triumphs. He played in the 1994 FA Cup final, but Manchester United thrashed Chelsea, 4-0. He left Chelsea in 1996; it won the FA Cup the following spring.
''Ruud Gullit became the coach,'' says Spencer of the legendary Dutch midfielder he played alongside in the 1995-96 season during which Spencer led the team with 13 goals. ''He just wanted to go in a different direction, he wanted to bring bigger-name players into the team. He had a squad rotation where you'd play one week and then wouldn't play for two weeks. I turned down a new contract with Chelsea, and QPR came in. I felt it was the right move for me, and I didn't regret it.''
He didn't know it, but by leaving Chelsea he'd taken his first step toward MLS. On the QPR roster was a blond behemoth of a goalkeeper named Juergen Sommer.
''When we met up in 1996 the league was just forming,'' says Spencer. ''I fancied going over and trying it.''
Sommer left England two years later to play for Columbus and New England. Spencer had to wait a little longer.
He trained with San Jose and Colorado early in 2001, with his Motherwell contract due to expire that summer. The Quakes had no coach and had been cut loose by Kraft Sports Group, so the Rapids had the inside track.
''I hadn't come on board yet,'' says Yallop, who took the Quakes job in February 2001. ''Spencer would have been a nice one to have, but we got Landon [Donovan], so it worked out well for everyone.''
Spencer made the last of his 14 appearances for Scotland in 1997, but Yallop thinks he can still contribute to Berti Vogts' struggling national team.
Henderson sees some similarities in Spencer and former Scottish international Mo Johnston, a teammate on the Wizards' 2000 championship team.
''The similarities between Spenny and Mo are they both want the ball,'' says Henderson. ''They're in the box and they're calling for it, whether there's a man or two on them. You think he's open and he's not, but I'd much rather have a striker who's always calling for the ball than one who hides.''
Spencer has taken on some American cultural traits. He's an avid San Francisco 49ers fan, a quirk stemming from a friend's father who worked in San Francisco bringing some NFL gear back during a visit 20 years ago.
BITTERSWEET BIRTHDAYS. His three birthdays in America have been bittersweet affairs, as he was born on Sept. 11, 1970.
''It's something that never, never should have happened,'' he says of the four hijackings and subsequent terrorist plane crashes. ''It's sad that the bad things in life always seem to go down in history rather than the good things.''
The British roots remain. His all-time favorite player is legendary Scottish international Kenny Dalglish. Spencer's son Jack was born in London during his stint at Chelsea and somehow he's become an Arsenal fan.
''He likes Thierry Henry, so what can you do?'' asks Spencer. ''Wrong club, but a great player, so at least he made a good choice.''
His choice of Colorado – and vice versa – is reaping benefits for both.
''Coming here is like his time for all the study and work over there will pay off,'' says Henderson. ''Now it's his time to shine.''
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney