PETERS, Martin Stanford M.B.E. (1969-75)
Position: Midfield
Height: 5ft 11ins
Weight: 11st 10lbs
Born: Plaistow, East London, 8 November, 1943
Died: Brentwood, 21 December, 2019
Signed from West Ham United March 1970
Transferred to Norwich City March 1975
Also played for: West Ham United, Norwich City, Sheffield United, Gorleston Town, England
Spurs Record:
Debut: 21 March, 1970 v Coventry City (FL) (h) lost 1-2
Appearances: League 189, FA Cup 16, League Cup 23, Europe 32
Goals: League 46, FA Cup 5, League Cup 12, Europe 13
One of England’s 1966 World Cup heroes, Martin Peters was a consummate professional footballer, a player with such fine football skills that no matter what age he played in, he would embellish the game with subtlety and style.
Spurs supporters were privileged to watch Peters at the peak of his career, although there were many who only realised just how good and important to the team he was, once he had departed.
A product of the West Ham Academy, Peters began his career as an orthodox wing-half, shuttling back and forth between penalty boxes, supporting his inside-forward and full-back. As football changed he developed into the complete midfield player, working back inside his own box, supporting his strikers and weighing in with more than his fair share of goals.
A member of West Ham's European Cup Winners' Cup-winning team of 1965, he made his England debut in May, 1966 in the warm up games for the World Cup finals and played in all bar the first match of the tournament, scoring in the final with West Germany.
Bill Nicholson was an admirer of Peters and when he heard the player wanted a move away from West Ham, he was quick to move in with a record £200,000 offer. It was a difficult deal for Nicholson. West Ham demanded Jimmy Greaves in part-exchange. It was not easy for Nicholson to release England’s greatest goalscorer but in Peters he saw an experienced player who could create and score goals and still had youth on his side.
Peters was signed just before deadline day in March, 1970 and made his debut against Coventry City. It was not an easy game for Peters, replacing a man who was a hero to so many but although Spurs lost, Peters signed on with a typical headed goal.
He settled quickly to the Spurs style, adding a beautiful, silky touch to the build-up play. Elegant in everything he did, Peters’ technical skills were beyond question but what was not always noticed was the amount of hard work he put in, covering the pitch from one end to the other. He had great vision and fine appreciation of space, appearing from nowhere with perfectly timed runs into the danger area. With an ability to time his leaps to perfection and a spring that took him even higher than might be expected from his near six foot, ghosting in with late blindside runs became his trademark.
Peters developed a perfect understanding with Martin Chivers and Alan Gilzean, the three of them being particularly strong in the air and the Chivers’ long throw to the near post, flicked on by Gilzean and headed home by Peters a well-known but impossible to stop ploy.
Peters’ ambitions to collect silverware were fulfilled at White Hart Lane with the League Cup in 1971 followed by the UEFA Cup in 1972. He was the natural choice to take over the captaincy when his former England colleague, Alan Mullery left for Fulham and captained Spurs to the League Cup victory in 1973 and in the 1974 UEFA Cup Final
An England regular, Peters won 34 caps as a Spurs player but following the departure of Bill Nicholson and the arrival of Terry Neill, he found himself out of favour. Peters moved on to Norwich City and they got six years of invaluable service from him before he finished his playing career with Sheffield United, taking his total of League outings to over 700.