Martin Peters MBE
England World Cup goal scorer, West Ham & Tottenham
Profile
Footballer for West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur; England World Cup scorer.
League career: West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, Sheffield United.
England internationals: Debut May 1966, World Cup winner, World Cup (1970), last appearance May 1974.
Other honours: Former manager of Sheffield United
Summary
For Martin Peters the rise to international fame was meteoric indeed. Gaining his first call-up for a friendly fixture against Yugoslavia as late as May 1966, less than three months later the 22-year old midfielder became a World Cup winner.
Memorably, Peters crowned his contribution to England's historic success with a 78 th minute goal in the Final against West Germany. Just the second goal he had scored for his country, for 12 glorious, anxious minutes it had seemed as though his rifled shot would be the match winner for Alf Ramsey's red shirted England.
Then, calamity. Weber scrambled an equaliser in the game's dying moments to send the Final into extra time. Yet England rose again, Geoff Hurst shooting the team to a 4-2 victory.
Four years later, when England journeyed to Mexico attempting to retain the Jules Rimet trophy, the picture was very different, with Martin Peters by then a fully fledged international, whose cultured midfield play, blindside runs and invaluable ability to score crucial goals had tempted Tottenham Hotspur to buy him in a British record deal worth £200,000.
Progressing to the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup, England were paired with West Germany in a re-run of the final four years earlier. Once more England established supremacy, Peters scoring the second goal, but as in 1966, the West Germans rallied to level the scores, surging ahead in extra time to send England packing.
Despite this setback, Martin Peters continued as an England regular until May 1974. Later, Norwich City paid Spurs £50,000 for the veteran midfield maestro, a successful period ensued at Carrow Road, before Peters ended his playing career in the colours of Sheffield United, and in 1981 went on to manage them.
Since Leaving Sheffield United, he joined his former England team-mate Geoff Hurst, once again, at Motor Plan, a company that provides extended warranties in the used car market.
Unable to stay away from the football scene for to long Martin then embarked on a secondary career on the after dinner speaking circuit, and 1996 was the year when he certainly came to prominence once again joining his other former England team mates on a national theatre tour, which took them to 44 venues around the country where they talked about football and that glorious day in 1966.
In Euro ‘96. Martin also worked actively on hospitality at all the major football grounds around the country, and took up positions in the hospitality areas of Tottenham Hotspur at their home matches as well as at West Ham United, looking after the various guests that visit their hospitality lounges.
After the World Cup ‘98, Martin was invited by the board of directors at Tottenham Hotspur to join them in a non executive position, when the new owners took over, this position was relinquished but he is still very much involved with the running of the club.
When Martin is not tied up with football or Motor Plan, he tries to spend as much time as he can with his family. He lives in Essex, and has a grown up son and daughter, and has a granddaughter, who he dotes on.
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