Sweeney: Peter Henry (Peter)

2008-2009 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Glasgow: 25-09-1984

Debut v Crewe Alexandra (a): 15-01-2008

6’0” 12st 1lb (2007)

Starting as a nine year old with Elms in the local Sunday League, he was spotted by West Ham United and joined their School of Excellence. At thirteen he was given the choice of joining several London clubs and chose Millwall. He led his school team to the Kent Schools Cup Final and was chosen for England Schoolboys. After two caps it was discovered he was born in Scotland and could not represent England. As a consequence Sweeney became available for Scotland and represented them at Under-Sixteen and Under-Eighteen levels. He was with the Scottish Under-eighteens in the Belgian four nations tournament starting in the 0-0 draw with Ukraine on 17th September 2001, but being replaced on the sixty-five minute mark by K. Watson, and two days later he came on for Stuart in the sixty-fifth minute of a 0-1 loss to the host nation. He made his debut for Millwall in 2002, as an eighty-ninth minute substitute for Christophe Kinet in a 3-0 home win over Stockport on 30th March 2002, but although he made four more brief appearances as a substitute, scoring his first goal in the final minute of a 4-0 home win over Watford on 11th January 2003, he had to wait another year for his big breakthrough. It came in a 1-0 home win over Sheffield United on 1st February 2003, but he was substituted after fifty-five minutes by Christophe Kinet, and it was not until 25th October 2003 that he finally played a full game in a 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor and cemented his first team place. He ultimately played a major role in the Lions' route to the Final of the FA Cup, where he started against Manchester United, and scored twice in twenty nine League games and made five F.A. Cup appearances in that season. He had also progressed at international level winning three Under-nineteen caps in 2002-03. He started in a 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, Dumbarton, but gave way to Shaun Fagan after sixty-five minutes on 25th September 2002, and then took part in the UEFA Under-nineteen competition in Slovenia, coming on for Paul Lawson after seventy-five minutes in a 1-4 defeat by Serbia & Montenegro at Sportni Park, Beltinci, on 23rd October 2003 and in the sixty-fourth minute for Graeme Law two days later in a 2-1 win over Iceland at Lesoplast Krizevci. He then gained one Scotland Under-Twenty cap when he was a half-time substitute for Simon Lappin in a 2-1 win over Portugal on 17th December 2003 at Estadio Antonio Almeida Correia, Alcochete. During his time at Millwall Sweeney won eight caps for Scotland at Under-Twenty-one level. There were three in the 2003-04 season, making his debut in a friendly with Hungary at Almondvale Stadium, Livingston, on 18th February 2004 when he was a half-time substitute for Garry O'Connor, followed by his starting debut at the Helsingor Stadion, Helsingor, in a 2-2 draw with Denmark when he was replaced by Craig Beattie after sixty-seven minutes on 27th April 2004 and another game from the bench in a 1-3 loss to the Republic of Ireland at Terryland Park, Galway, when he was a fifty-fifth minute replacement for Scott Morrison on 25th May 2004. He then added a further five in the 2004-05 season which started with another friendly defeat by Hungary on 18th August 2004 at the Stadion Dunaferr in Dunaujvaros, which he started before being substituted by Simon Lappin in the seventy-fifth minute in a 2-4 defeat. Another away defeat quickly followed as they went down 1-3 to Spain in another friendly, which saw Sweeney play a full game at Estadio El Collao, Alcoy, on 2nd September 2004. Five days later there was another full game in a home European Championship qualifier at McDiarmid Park, Perth, which saw a 1-1 draw with Slovenia. His seventh cap came in a 1-2 friendly defeat by Sweden at the Falkirk Stadium when he came on as a substitute for Paul Gallagher on 16th November 2004 before his final cap, on 3rd June 2005, in another European qualifier, this time at Firhill Park, Glasgow, when he was a sixty-fifthg minute substitute for Scott Brown in a 0-0 draw with Moldova. He did also gain one Scotland "B" cap which came on 19th April 2005 in a Future Cup clash with Austria at Pappelstadion, Mattersburg, when he started but was replaced by Mark Fotheringham in a 1-2 defeat. He scored five goals from forty-five starts and fourteen games from the bench in the League and made seven F.A. Cup appearances, of which four were as a substitute, and one game from the bench in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, without scoring in either competition, while at the Den. On 1st July 2005 Sweeney signed for Stoke City for £250,000, but he was injured early in his debut for the club in a pre-season friendly with Newcastle Town game and was out for three months. He made his League debut as a final minute substitute for Hannes Sigurdsson in a 2-0 home win over Crewe Alexandra on 18th October 2005 and had two further substitute appearances before he was given a start on 3rd December 2005 in a 1-2 home defeat by Queens Park Rangers, but he was replaced by Hannes Sigurdsson in the seventy-sixth minute. While not a permanent fixture in the starting eleven he did feature in seventeen League and three F.A. Cup games and opened his goal account five minutes after coming on as a seventy-seventh minute substitute for Adam Rooney in a 5-1 away win at Brighton on 30th April 2006. He had featured in thirteen League games and one League Cup and one F.A. Cup game when, on 13th January 2007, he had an altercation with the Stoke Manager Tony Pulis, who after sending him on as a fifty-fith substitute for Vincent Piricard, in the 1-1 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, he then replaced him with Adam Rooney, when there were still ten minutes left on the clock. Sweeney joined Yeovil Town on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut in starting in the 0-1 home defeat by his former club, Millwall, on 3rd February 2007 and made five League starts and three appearances from the bench before he returned to Stoke at the end of March at his own request, after being deemed surplus to requirements by the Yeovil Manager. After playing very little first team football, just five League and one League Cup substitute appearances, often entailing just a few minutes, on 22nd November 2007 he signed a two-month loan deal at Walsall but, after making his debut in a 2-0 away win at Northampton Town on 24th November 2007, he returned to Stoke upon the expiration of his loan having started seven four League games. In his career with Stoke he made eighteen League starts and a further seventeen from the bench and scored twice, while he also made three starts and had one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup and one start and one substitute appearance in the League Cup, without scoring. Early in the January 2008 transfer window Stoke accepted an undisclosed bid for the midfielder from Leeds United, with whom he swiftly agreed personally terms, and it was announced that he would sign, subject to a medical the following week. He finalised the move on 10th January 2008, joining the club on a two-and-a-half-year deal, on a free transfer. Despite making his debut four days later in a 1-0 away win at Crewe Alexandra, his arrival co-incided with his former Millwall boss' departure in the final days of January. So while starting in the last few games of Dennis Wise's reign as Leeds manager, Sweeney failed to established himself under new manager Gary McAllister, being replaced by Bradley Johnson on the left-wing and becoming a mere squad player. He made six starts and three substitute appearances in his first season at Leeds, but was surplus to requirements and, after not featuring in the first team in his second season, he was loaned to Grimsby Town on 20th March 2009. After making his debut for the Mariners in a 3-0 home win over Gillingham the following day, he made eight League appearances in helping Grimsby stay in the Football League before he returned to Elland Road at the end of the season. However, not surprisingly, by mutual agreement, his contract was ended on 1st July 2009. He was transferred to Blundell Park on 4th July 2009 on a free transfer on a two year contract and after his debut in a 1-2 away loss at Cheltenham Town on 8th August 2009, he went on to feature regularly in the Mariners first team in the new season. Sweeney continued to hold down a position in the centre of midfield and partnered Michael Leary, Dean Sinclair and Mark Hudson throughout the 2009/10 season. On 12th May 2010, Sweeney was one of seven players placed on the transfer list by Grimsby manager Neil Woods after their relegation from the Football League. At the end of the 2009-10 season he had scored four goals in forty League appearances, including four from the bench. He had also played one League Cup game as well as scoring twice in two Johnstone's Paint Trophy games since signing permanently for the Mariners. On 25th June 2010 he joined Bury on a two year contact on a free transfer. He made his debut for the Shakers in a 0-1 home defeat by Port Vale on 7th August 2010, but could not hold a permanent place in the first team. However, after being sidelined by injury he became a regular in March and held his place in the side, making eighteen starts in a total of twenty-five League games as Bury gained promotion just five points behind champions Chesterfield. In League One he came more into his own and featured in forty-one of the League games as Bury finished fourteenth, but with the coming of Kevin Blackwell near the end of September 2012 saw him fall out of favour and despite being under contract until 2014, Sweeney asked for his contract to be cancelled for personal reasons and he was quickly snapped up by League Two side AFC Wimbledon on 8th January 2013. While at Gigg Lane he had scored five League goals in seventy-two starts and ten games from the bench, but had failed to score in five F.A. Cup games, one being as a substitute, four League Cup games, one as a substitute and four Johnstone's Paint Trophy games with one of them being from the bench. He made his debut for Wimbledon on 12th January 2013 in a 2-2 draw at home to Wycombe Wanderers and had started seven games before he had to leave the field with a broken foot, after fifteen minutes of the home game with Northampton Town on 19th February 2013, which ended his season. He was back the following season and hardly missed a game until the Christmas break when he was out until the start of March after breaking his foot. Wimbledon finished 20th, avoiding relegation by three points and due to financial constraints released eight players. Sweeney was one of them.He had started twenty-four League games and played four more from the bench, and started one game in each of the F.A. Cup and the League Cup, without scoring, but he did score once in his only start in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, while with AFC Wimbledon. He signed for Conference Premiership side Dartford on a one year cintract on 9th August 2014 and made his debut for them as an eighty-third minute substitute on 9th August 2014 in a 1-2 home defeat by Wrexham. He made his starting debut three days later in a 1-1 draw at Woking. He scored his first goal for Dartford in the ninth minute of a 2-2 draw at Welling on 30th September 2014 and by mid-April he had scored one goal in twenty-nine League starts and seven more from the bench as well as starting two F.A. Cup-ties.