WEMBLEY WIZARDS
football’s first £200,000 player when he joined Tottenham in 1970.
And when his contribution to the coaching manual is assessed, he is not just the MP who would get our vote in every English constituency.
Peters was the man who turned ‘ghosting’ in at the far post into an art form.
His winner against Scotland at Wembley in 1973 – a game which also deserves to be remembered for Peter Shilton’s sensational one-handed save to deny Kenny Dalglish – was a classic example of his stealth.
But this scribe will never forget his night out with the Boys of ‘66, that short but symbolic coach journey to the gates of Wembley and that fan’s tribute to a legend.
Thank you for what you did for your country.
decorated was Trevor Brooking in 2004.
No disrespect to Brooking, but you cannot help thinking the honours committee got the wrong stylish West Ham midfield player.
The only other knight to be summoned to the Palace from the world of football this century was Dave Richards, the former Premier League chairman.
It really does take a squint through the looking glass to come up with the conclusion that Richards did more for the sport in this country than Peters. Earlier this year,
former cricketers Andrew Strauss and Geoff Boycott joined the noble ranks.
Strauss was a gritty opening batsman and decent England captain, but he made significantly less impact on the nation than Peters did as a footballer.
Boycott had a conviction for domestic violence.
Had the gentlemanly Peters not been in the cruel grip of Alzheimer’s at the time, he may have paused a moment to reflect where the link between honour and honourable had gone. Sporting knighthoods, of late, have tended to lend much more weight to contemporary stars such as Alastair Cook, Andy Murray, Ben Ainslie and Mo Farah.
There will no doubt be more added in the New Year’s Honours List.
But Peters’ sad passing, on top of that of Banks, should serve as a prompt to look back. Five of England’s World Cup-winning team have now passed away.
On the 50th anniversary of their triumph, Parliament was petitioned in an attempt to award captain Bobby Moore, who died in 1993, a posthumous knighthood. It failed. Petitions calling for individuals to be honoured were ruled inadmissible.
But the explanation confirmed one calling for a change to the honours system to accept posthumous awards could be brought forward.
Now is the moment to make that move.
The passage of time is diminishing the heroes of ‘66.
One by one they are being taken from us. But as each year goes by, the scale of their towering achievement becomes greater.
Living or dead, it is time Sir Alf’s boys are all elevated to the status their feat deserves.
While it wasn’t a great period in our [Sheffield United] history, to have someone of his stature play, coach and manage the club was quite special. His playing career speaks for itself with what he achieved at West Ham, Spurs and of course, most famously, with England. To play in that game in ‘66 and to score – that must have been special. To lose such an iconic player is obviously very sad, and our thoughts are with Martin’s family at this time.