Martin Peters - Always Ahead Of The Game

DAVID DOCHERTY TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE CAREER OF THE ENGLAND WORLD CUP WINNER...

- David Docherty

WHEN Alf Ramsey said that Martin Peters was ten years ahead of his time, he could never have realised what a perceptive observation that was.

Peters was a one-man embodiment of ‘total football’. Multi-functional, he could play in any position.

Indeed, he did so for West Ham by pulling on ten different jerseys with just the number two shirt missing from his CV at that point.

Much later in his career, he went on to complete the full set.

Comfortable with either foot and on both sides of the field, Peters could have played in, and looked at home in, the great Brazil side of Pele, Carlos Alberto and Rivelinho or the outstanding Dutch or West German club sides of the 1970s, such were his gifts.

His ability to ghost into the box unseen to score crucial goals with either head or foot was uncanny, often leaving bewildered opponents pointing fingers of blame at each other. They all knew he would do it, given the chance, but, when he did, they could do little to stop him.

Martin Peters joined his local side West Ham as an apprentice in 1959 and made his debut at the age of 18 in a 4-1 home win against Cardiff City on April 20, 1962.

In the return fixture with Cardiff at Ninian Park, goalkeeper Brian Rhodes had to go off with a dislocated shoulder.

With his side two goals down and half-an-hour still remaining, Peters, in only his third match, donned the injured keeper’s jersey and, by all accounts, performed well, being beaten just once.

It was a feat he would repeat the following season when the unfortunate Lawrie Leslie was carted off with a broken leg.

That match in Cardiff was notable also for being the first time that the future World Cup-winning trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Peters would play together in a competitive match as well as being the first time that Moore captained the Upton Parkside in a League fixture.