Peter Litchfield

Peter Litchfield (born 27 July 1956) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career with Droylsden and played in the Football League with Preston North End, Bradford City, Oldham Athletic and Scunthorpe United.

Peter Litchfield
Personal information
Full name Peter Litchfield[1]
Date of birth (1956-07-27) 27 July 1956[1]
Place of birth Manchester,[1] England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Droylsden
1979–1985 Preston North End 107 (0)
1985–1989 Bradford City 88 (0)
1988 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 3 (0)
1989–1991 Scunthorpe United 25 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Born in 1956 in Manchester, England,[3][4] Litchfield started his career as a junior player with Manchester City and made three reserve appearances before being released at the end of the 1976–1977 season. He turned down a move to Stockport County and returned to City in September 1977 to play for the juniors on a monthly basis following an injury to another young keeper Tony Armstrong.[5] Later he moved on to local non-league side Droylsden. In January 1979, he was signed by Football League Second Division-side Preston North End for £3,000.[4] He waited two years to replace first-choice goalkeeper Roy Tunks for his Preston debut, which came on 28 February 1981 against Chelsea, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory and earning The Sun newspaper's man of the match award. His prize was a £1,000 charity cheque, which he donated to a motor neurone disease cause, in memory of former Preston player Mel Holden, who had died from the disease.[3] He made another two appearances in the Second Division, as the club were relegated in the 1980–81 season, and went on to play a total of 107 league appearances with Preston,[4] winning the club's player of the year in the 1983–84 season. His Preston career ended with relegation to the Fourth Division.[3]

In June 1985, he joined Bradford City on a free transfer, following their promotion into the Second Division. He replaced Eric McManus, who had been injured in pre-season. After making his debut on 17 August 1985 in a 2–1 victory at Carlisle United, he went on to be an ever-present in his first season with City. He played another 39 games the following season, but in June 1987, City signed Paul Tomlinson from Sheffield United for a club record fee of £47,500.[4] Litchfield played only five more league games for City, and following a loan spell with Oldham Athletic in October 1988,[3] he joined Scunthorpe United in June 1989 as competition for Paul Musselwhite.[6]

Litchfield played 25 league games for Scunthorpe in the Fourth Division but a knee problem limited his appearances during the 1990–91 season, which brought about his retirement at the age of 34.[6]

Honours

Individual honours

References
  1. "Peter Litchfield". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "An Iron and a White". Preston North End Mad. 24 December 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
  4. Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988. Breedon Books Sport. p. 114. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.
  5. Manchester City v Bristol City football programme, 24 September 1977, p20
  6. "The Iron alphabet". Scunthorpe United. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
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