Alan Peacock

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Alan Peacock
Personnel
Surname Alan Peacock
birthday October 29, 1937
place of birth Middlesbrough ,  England
size 183 cm
position Center Forward
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1954-1964 Middlesbrough FC 218 (125)
1964-1967 Leeds United 54 0(27)
1967-1968 Plymouth Argyle 11 00(1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1962-1965 England 6 00(3)
1 Only league games are given.

Alan Peacock (born October 29, 1937 in Middlesbrough ) is a retired English football player . The center forward and World Cup participant from 1962 formed a successful storm duo with Brian Clough at the second division club Middlesbrough for many years . After unsuccessful attempts at promotion, he then tried his luck at Leeds United , but suffered from injury problems and had to end his career at the age of only 30 shortly after moving to Plymouth Argyle .

Athletic career

Early on, Peacock showed himself to be one of the greatest talents of his age group when he came into play in English youth teams. Trained at the local Lawson Secondary School , he joined the professional team of his home club Middlesbrough FC shortly after his 17th birthday in November 1954 . Regularly he was used in the second division, but only in the course of the 1957/58 season, after he had prevailed against Arthur Fitzsimons and was very accurate with 15 goals in 22 league games. Striker partner at his side was the later renowned coach Brian Clough . Both were in the further course of their careers in the English senior team , although they did not act in the top division. Characteristic for the interaction of the two goal scorers, who each stood out with an exceptionally high goal rate (Clough scored 197 goals in 213 league games, while Peacock scored 125 goals in 218 championship matches), was a distribution of roles that provided that Peacock more than Clough than Preparer served while he himself scored primarily with his head - Peacock was often viewed by contemporary observers as one of England's best post-war headers.

A big problem for Peacock was increasingly the unsuccessful efforts for the first division promotion, which was due to the often inadequate performance of the defensive. Regardless of this, he showed himself in the 1961/62 season after the departure of Clough in the direction of Sunderland with 24 league goals and suddenly he was a regular for England at the 1962 World Cup in Chile . There he played two group games against Argentina (3-1) and Bulgaria (0-0) without having previously played an international match. In the subsequent quarter-final against Brazil he was absent due to an upset stomach; Gerry Hitchens replaced him.

After the tournament and initially further international appearances in the autumn of 1962 against Northern Ireland (3-1) and Wales (4-0 with two own goals), his existence in the second division became increasingly frustrating, especially since he had no further chances under the new England coach Alf Ramsey received more. So he moved in February 1964, when Middlesbrough "bobbed" again in midfield, for the transfer fee of 50,000 pounds to the promotion aspirant Leeds United . He had to pause long stretches of the 1963/64 season due to injury, but in the remaining games he contributed eight goals for Leeds to win the second division championship and the associated first division promotion - this increased the transfer fee by a further 5,000 pounds. A year later he was part of the final team in the FA Cup , which lost 2-1 in extra time to Liverpool after a goalless first 90 minutes . Half a year later he played two last international matches before he was no longer considered in the run-up to the upcoming 1966 World Cup in his own country . This was also due to the increasing vulnerability to injury. This also reduced the opportunities in Leeds and in October 1967 he was hired by the second division Plymouth Argyle . There he played eleven league games before he had to end his career at the age of just 30 due to severe knee problems.

Peacock then returned to his hometown of Middlesbrough and ran a newsagents there.

literature

  • Hayes, Dean P .: England! England! The Complete Who's Who of Players since 1946 . Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3234-1 , pp. 150 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Peacock, Alan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Middlesbrough