Peacock: Alan

1964-1967 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Middlesbrough: 29-10-1937

Debut: v Norwich City (a): 08-02-1964

6’1” 11 st 9lb (1963)

#72 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

A product of Lawson Secondary School, he joined Middlesbrough as a youngster, won England Youth honours and turned professional in November 1954, however it took him over four years to establish himself in the starting line up. He formed a prolific spearhead with Brian Clough, scoring one hundred and twenty-six goals in two hundred and eighteen League appearances and another sixteen goals in twenty Cup fixtures. Clough was to score two hundred and four goals in two hundred and twenty-two games, while at Ayresome Park. Both were to play for England while still with Second Division Boro, an unprecedented badge of honour for the club and, but for a ‘notoriously’ leaky defence, their firepower would have won promotion. Peacock came to prominence midway through the 1957-58 season when he established himself as an ideal strike partner for Boro goal machine Brian Clough. Peacock's unselfish attitude led to Clough claiming the majority of goals but not in one memorable game on 8th November 1958 when both front men scored hat-tricks in a 6-1 win over Scunthorpe. Peacock was eased into the Boro team with two goals in six games in 1955-56 and one goal in four games in the following season as Clough topped the scorers with thirty-eight League goals. After sporadic early appearances, Peacock dislodged Arthur Fitzsimmons and the Clough/Peacock record over the next few seasons was nothing short of phonominal. In 1957-58 Clough bagged thirty eight in the league while Peacock got fifteen in twenty-two games. Middlesbrough scored eighty-three goals that season. In 1958-59 Clough netted forty-three and Peacock nineteen in thirty-four games as Boro totalled eighty-seven in the League. 1959-60 saw thirty-nine goals from the boot of Clough, while Peacock contributed thirteen goals in thirty-five games in Boro’s total of ninety for the season. The final year of the Clough/Peacock partnership, 1960-61, saw thirty-four from Clough and fifteen in thirty-four games from Peacock as Boro totalled ninety in the League. Peacock was acknowledged as one of the best headers of a ball in English Football in the post-war era. He was outstanding for the club during the 1961-62 campaign, as he scored a prolific twenty-four goals in only thirty-four League matches, following Clough's transfer to Sunderland. He also notched a further eight in Cup matches. His exceptional form earned him a call up to play for England in the 1962 World Cup finals. He was never on a losing side for England. He made his debut on 2nd June 1962 at Rancagua in the 3-1 victory over Argentina, a game in which he had a header pushed over the bar by the Argentine captain Navarro and Ron Flowers scored from the resulting penalty, and five days later he was again in the line-up as England drew 0-0 with Bulgaria at the same venue. As throughout his career, either injury or bad luck struck and he went down with a stomach bug and he consequently missed the quarter-final defeat as Gerry Hitchens took his place and scored in a 3-1 defeat by Brazil. He was back for the home internationals, against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast, when England won 3-1 and he then opened his international goal scoring account with two against Wales in a 4-0 victory at Wembley. His good form continued in 1962-63 when he topped the Boro scoring with thirty-one goals in forty League games as well as two more in the Cup. Peacock grew frustrated with Boro’s repeated failure to win promotion and so took a short cut into the top flight when he moved to Leeds. Injury had sidelined him for part of the 1963-64 season but he had still managed five goals in nine games when Leeds paid out £50,000 for him in February 1964, but as part of the signing agreement there was a further £5,000 paid on United attaining promotion. His eight goals in fourteen games lifted Leeds to Division One in 1964, earning him a Second Division Championship medal. He was a member of the 1965 FA Cup Final team and added two more England appearances while at Leeds to take his total of caps to six, a number that could have been substantially increased, but for a succession of injuries. He was in the team for the 0-0 draw with Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff, on 2nd October 1965 and then scored his third England goal in England’s 2-1 victory over Northern Ireland at Wembley a month later, on 10th November. He seemed certain for a spot in Alf Ramsey's 1966 World Cup squad. His form with Leeds in the 1965-66 season only confirmed this, as he scored in three of the four opening Leeds' fixtures. He did not find the net in the opening fixtures with Sunderland but netted in a 2-0 win at Villa Park against Aston Villa, added another in a 1-2 defeat at Upton Park and then bagged a brace in the return fixture with Aston Villa at Elland Road. to make it four in the first four games. He was on the mark twice more at Filbert Street in a 3-3 draw with Leicester City to make it six in nine League games. He was on the mark in the first leg of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round in a 2-1 win over Torino at Elland Road on 29th September 1965, a goal which effectively took them through to the next round. But in the League he scored in a 6-1 home win over Northampton Town, followed by the opening goal in a 2-1 win over Stoke City at Elland Road to take his tally to eight in thirteen games in the League. He had been ever-present to this point and his form was such that his place in the England team seemed assured. He picked up his first injury of the season in Leeds' 16th game of the season in a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Elland Road on 13th November 1965 and after being replaced by Terry Cooper in the match, he missed the following game against Everton at Goodison Park on 20th November, their 2-1 win in Leipzig on 24th November and the home leg 0-0 draw on 1st December in the Fairs Cup Second Round and also England's match in Spain on 8th December but he returned for United's home fixture in a 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on 11th December and then continue an unbroken string of games until 29th January 1966 when he was again injured at Sunderland and replaced by Rod Johnson. This proved to be a season ending injury which saw Leeds lose the focal point of their attack and the unique aerial dominance he brought to the team. In the latter spell he had added two more goals, on 1st January at home to Sheffield Wednesday, and, a week later, the other at West Bromwich Albion to take him to double figures, with ten goals in twenty-four League games. It was a hard blow for Leeds and coupled with the loss of midfield general Bobby Collins for most of the season, he managed but ten League games, it was little wonder that they finished runners-up, six points behind Champions Liverpool. The final outcome was far away from the championship medal and World Cup winners' medal which had seemed imminent at the halfway point of the season. Over the next year he had three knee operations and had to be satisfied with two goals from his six appearances in the League. He went to Plymouth Argyle in October 1967 for £10,000 but was forced to retire in March 1968 at the early age of thirty, after scoring only once in eleven games. He returned to his native City after retirement and later ran a newsagents business in Middlesbrough and became a matchday host at the Riverside. He also founded the Middlesbrough Former Players Association in 2005. "In November 2005, Peacock became president of non-League Guisborough Town and in December 2006 he was awarded a Lifetime's Achievement Award by the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough for his services to the club, a fitting tribute to one of the nicest but unluckiest men in football." Courtesy David Tomlinson.