The Complete Midfielder

The great Martin Peters MBE tonight becomes the third recipient of West Ham United’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Martin Peters MBE is a member of a host of select bands.

Not only is Peters one of just eleven Englishmen to know what it is like to win the FIFA World Cup, but he is also one of just eleven West Ham United players to experience lifting a European trophy.
The Academy of Football graduate is also one of just 35 players to win the illustrious Hammer of the Year award, voted for by supporters of this great football club.

Tonight, Peters joins another, even more exclusive group, joining fellow Claret and Blue greats Sir Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds MBE in becoming the recipient of the Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

An outstanding all-round footballer capable of filling any position on the pitch, Peters is widely heralded as one of the greatest English players of all-time.

Ron Greenwood, the coach who developed and fine-tuned Peters’ talent, handing the 18-year-old his first-team debut on Good Friday 1962 and managed him throughout his entire West Ham career, described him as ‘the complete midfielder’.

Sir Alf Ramsey, who gave Peters his England debut just weeks before the 1966 FIFA World Cup finals, before seeing the 22-year-old score the Three Lions’ second goal in their final victory over West Germany, said the Plaistow-born player was ‘ten years ahead of his time’.
Raised just an accurate long pass away from the Boleyn Ground, Peters joined West Ham as a 15-year-old apprentice before making his way up through the ranks under first Ted Fenton, then successor Greenwood.

After making his debut against Cardiff 53 years ago, Peters scored his first goal in a 6-1 Division One win at Manchester City in September 1962.

The following season, 1963/64, the rookie played 32 times in the league, but was not involved in West Ham’s successful FA Cup run, as Greenwood preferred the more defensively-minded Eddie Bovington.

The disappointment of missing the Hammers’ Wembley victory over Preston North End perhaps fuelled Peters’ desire still further and the young East Ender took his game to the next level.

The 1964/65 season saw Peters establish himself as an influential member of West Ham’s starting XI, playing in all nine ties as the Club impressed the world by winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in sensational style.

In May 1966, after another fine season in Claret and Blue, England manager Ramsey recognised Peters’ potential to take his qualities onto the international stage.

With England hosting the FIFA World Cup finals, Peters was given a debut in a pre-tournament warm-up with Yugoslavia, and the West Ham man produced an outstanding performance. After scoring against Finland on his second appearance, Peters was named in the final squad alongside club-mates Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.

Peters missed England’s opening group fixture, a goalless draw with Uruguay, and Ramsey drafted him in to his new, narrower 4-1-3-2 system, which required disciplined, athletic, technically-gifted central midfield players.
England beat Mexico in their second group match and Peters would keep his place for the remainder of the tournament, setting up Hurst’s quarter-final winner against Argentina along the way.

It was in the final, at Wembley on 30 July 1966, that Peters enjoyed the greatest moment of his great career, putting England ahead with a fabulous half-volley with just 15 minutes to play. Had West Germany not equalised in the final seconds, Peters would have scored the goal that won England the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Peters would continue to play with panache and passion for club and country over the next four years, helping England to third place at the 1968 UEFA European Championship and to keep West Ham comfortably in the top flight.

In 1970, Peters departed for Tottenham Hotspur in a transfer deal that saw his fellow FIFA World Cup winner Jimmy Greaves join the Hammers.

While it might not sit too well with tonight’s audience, Peters enjoyed more success in north London, winning two League Cups and the UEFA Cup in 1972.

After spells with Norwich City and Sheffield United, he hung up his boots in 1981, having scored 175 goals in 724 career club matches. For England, he netted 20 times in 67 caps between 1966 and 1974.

In retirement, Peters briefly managed the Blades, worked in the insurance business and served as a director at White Hart Lane. More recently, he has become a popular matchday hospitality host at both West Ham and Tottenham.

Tonight, we have the chance to thank one of the Academy of Football’s greatest-ever graduates for his outstanding contribution to both West Ham United and English football as a whole.

Martin Peters MBE truly was, truly is and truly always will be the complete midfielder.
*Join the conversation around Martin Peters' Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2014/15 Player Awards supported by Betway in aid of the Academy on Twitter @whufc_official using the hashtag #HOTY2015