Martin Peters

Martin Peters ( born November 8, 1943 in Plaistow, London ) is a former English footballer.

Martin Peters was an external rotor of West Ham United. He signed with the London Club his first professional contract in 1959, but moved in 1962 to the first team on. In the season 1964/1965 he was a regular player and won in the same season the European Cup Winners' Cup in the final against TSV 1860 Munich. In May 1966 coach Alf Ramsey let him play for the first time in pre-season for the Football World Cup 1966 against Yugoslavia in the England team. In this 2-0 success of the British Peters was able to convince and was nominated little in the squad for the World Cup later.

In England's opening match against Uruguay Peters was still sitting on the bench, but starting in the second group match of the first round he played from the beginning to the final against Germany. In the final he would have become almost a hero of the final match as he scored the 2-1 lead England, but Wolfgang Weber was able to achieve the 2:2 equalizing just before the end of the game. For example, his colleague Geoff Hurst West Ham with two more hits in the extension of a national hero. Peters, however, was henceforth also key players in the English national team.

In March 1970 Peters moved for a then-record transfer fee of 200.000, - British pounds to local rivals Tottenham Hotspur. In the same year he participated in Mexico at the World Cup 1970. In the quarterfinals, the defending champions scored again on Germany and Peters scored early in the second half 2-0 for England. Coach Alf Ramsey then took his best players Peters and Bobby Charlton out of the lot. A fatal mistake for the team, because England lost the game even with 2:3 in extra time and was eliminated from the tournament.

Peters career in the National Dress was influenced by this game to disappointments. In 1972 he retired with England in the quarter- finals of the European Football Championship in 1972 again against Germany - he had participated in the European Championship Qualifiers and the quarter-finals in seven games and has achieved a goal - and 1973 he missed against Poland to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 1974. He finished then after 67 internationals his international career.

In his new club Tottenham his future career was more successful. In 1972, he won the UEFA Cup in the only all-English final against Wolverhampton Wanderers. In 1974 he again reached the UEFA Cup final, but this time lost against Feyenoord Rotterdam. After this season he left Tottenham and went to Norwich City. For Norwich he played until 1980 on 200 times and then became player-manager of Sheffield United. Overall, Martin Peters played until 1981 882mal in the then First Division and scored 220 goals. He did not rule on a coaching career, however, but went into the insurance business until he retired. Since 1998 he is on the board of Tottenham Hotspur.