Gavin Peacock
Encyclopedia
Gavin Keith Peacock is a former English
professional football
player who played primarily in midfield but often as a striker. He then worked in the media as a pundit, and in September 2008 relocated to Canada to study Theology
with a view to becoming a Christian minister.
, Peacock attended Bexley Grammar School
as a child. He played schoolboy international football for England.
, making 17 appearances in the First Division and scoring once before he moved to Third Division in 1987 in a move which was started by his father, Keith
, Gillingham's manager. Shortly after joining, his father was sacked by the club but Gavin remained on as a player until after their relegation to the Fourth Division in 1989.
He was signed by Harry Redknapp
for Bournemouth
in a £250,000 deal on 16 August 1989, but was unable to prevent their relegation from the Third Division that season
. He began the 1990-91 season
still at Bournemouth, but on 30 November 1990 he made the move back to the Second Division when Jim Smith
paid Bournemouth £275,000 to take Peacock to Newcastle United.
The Magpies were in the Second Division
at the time and were founder members of the new Division One
on the creation of the new FA Premier League
in 1992, and in the 1992-93 season
he helped them win the Division One title. His goalscoring record for the Magpies was impressive, as their top scorer in 1991-92
with 16 goals and one of their best scorers in the promotion season with 12 goals.
He was sold to Chelsea for £1.5million soon afterwards, being one of new player-manager Glenn Hoddle's
first signings for the Stamford Bridge
side.
Peacock famously scored both home and away for Chelsea in 1–0 victories over Manchester United
in the 1993–94
season. Both sides met again in the FA Cup Final
, and with the score at 0–0 just before half time,Peacock hit the crossbar from 25 yards and missed a golden opportunity to gain silverware. Manchester United went on to win the final 4-0 and achieve the double. Peacock finished joint top scorer that season with an impressive 14 goals from midfield. He helped them reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
in 1995 and the FA Cup
semi finals in 1996.
Peacock returned to Queens Park Rangers in 1996, having lost his place in the Chelsea team to new signing Roberto Di Matteo
.
He made a brief return to the Premier League in 2001 after going on loan
to Charlton Athletic
in 2001, where his father was now assistant manager. Peacock returned to QPR for the 2001/2 season, at the end of which he retired, having made 196 appearances in total for the club. By this stage, however, they were in Division Two. In total he scored more than 100 goals in over 540 league appearances.
, regularly appearing as a pundit on Football Focus
, Score
, Match of the Day 2
, BBC Radio 5 Live
's comedy game show Fighting Talk
and the BBC Radio 4
comedy show "One". He also hosted a weekly podcast
on the official Chelsea website.
Influenced by the positive change he saw in his mother when she became a Christian
, and already a believer in God
, he started attending the local Methodist church at the age of 18. From then on, his Christian faith became central to his life. He presented a feature on Football Focus about faith in the game in December 2006. He also presented Songs of Praise
on 10 February 2008, at the same time as his coverage of the African Cup of Nations
final. Having studied theology
from September 2006 at Ridley Hall, Cambridge
, after completing his commentary duties at Euro 2008, he moved to Canada
for a three-year masters course in Divinity
at Ambrose Seminary
. Peacock's aim is to become a pastor
, vicar
or minister depending on which Christian denomination he chooses to work within.
, Kent
before Peacock started his studies, and a small holiday home in Canada
in the Rocky Mountains
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player who played primarily in midfield but often as a striker. He then worked in the media as a pundit, and in September 2008 relocated to Canada to study Theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
with a view to becoming a Christian minister.
Early life
The son of footballer Keith PeacockKeith Peacock
Keith Peacock is an English former footballer and manager.-Playing career:Peacock played his entire professional career for Charlton Athletic, making over 500 Football League appearances between 1962 and 1979...
, Peacock attended Bexley Grammar School
Bexley Grammar School
Bexley Grammar School, is a co-educational grammar school in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley, UK. Students are admitted into Year 7 at age 11, however can be admitted at a younger age of 10 if the student skipped a year or into the Sixth Form at age 16, providing they fulfil the entry...
as a child. He played schoolboy international football for England.
Football career
Peacock started his career at Queens Park RangersQueens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
, making 17 appearances in the First Division and scoring once before he moved to Third Division in 1987 in a move which was started by his father, Keith
Keith Peacock
Keith Peacock is an English former footballer and manager.-Playing career:Peacock played his entire professional career for Charlton Athletic, making over 500 Football League appearances between 1962 and 1979...
, Gillingham's manager. Shortly after joining, his father was sacked by the club but Gavin remained on as a player until after their relegation to the Fourth Division in 1989.
He was signed by Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp
Henry James "Harry" Redknapp is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur....
for Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....
in a £250,000 deal on 16 August 1989, but was unable to prevent their relegation from the Third Division that season
1989-90 in English football
-European competitions:English clubs were still banned from competing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster.- First Division :...
. He began the 1990-91 season
1990-91 in English football
The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Arsenal won the league. Runners-up spot was achieved by Liverpool, who had led the table for much of the first half of the season but had been shell-shocked in February by the sudden resignation of manager...
still at Bournemouth, but on 30 November 1990 he made the move back to the Second Division when Jim Smith
Jim Smith (footballer)
James Michael "Jim" Smith is a retired English footballer and manager. As a player, he made 249 appearances in the Fourth Division of The Football League, representing Aldershot, Halifax Town, Lincoln City and Colchester United, and played for three-and-a-half years for Boston United of the...
paid Bournemouth £275,000 to take Peacock to Newcastle United.
The Magpies were in the Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
at the time and were founder members of the new Division One
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
on the creation of the new FA Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
in 1992, and in the 1992-93 season
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
he helped them win the Division One title. His goalscoring record for the Magpies was impressive, as their top scorer in 1991-92
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
with 16 goals and one of their best scorers in the promotion season with 12 goals.
He was sold to Chelsea for £1.5million soon afterwards, being one of new player-manager Glenn Hoddle's
Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle is an English former footballer and manager who played as an attacking midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, AS Monaco, Chelsea and Swindon Town and at international level for England....
first signings for the Stamford Bridge
Stamford Bridge
Stamford Bridge could be* Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England** The Battle of Stamford Bridge* Stamford Bridge , in London** by metonymy, Chelsea F.C., football club based in the stadium...
side.
Peacock famously scored both home and away for Chelsea in 1–0 victories over Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
in the 1993–94
1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
season. Both sides met again in the FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
, and with the score at 0–0 just before half time,Peacock hit the crossbar from 25 yards and missed a golden opportunity to gain silverware. Manchester United went on to win the final 4-0 and achieve the double. Peacock finished joint top scorer that season with an impressive 14 goals from midfield. He helped them reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...
in 1995 and the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
semi finals in 1996.
Peacock returned to Queens Park Rangers in 1996, having lost his place in the Chelsea team to new signing Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo is a Swiss-born Italian former professional footballer and the current assistant manager of Chelsea. As a midfielder, he enjoyed spells at Schaffhausen, Zürich Aarau, Lazio, and Chelsea. He was capped by Italy 34 times, scoring two goals for the Italian national team, and played...
.
He made a brief return to the Premier League in 2001 after going on loan
Loan (football)
In sports, a loan involves a particular player being allowed to temporarily play for a club other than the one he is currently contracted to. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to all season-long....
to Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
in 2001, where his father was now assistant manager. Peacock returned to QPR for the 2001/2 season, at the end of which he retired, having made 196 appearances in total for the club. By this stage, however, they were in Division Two. In total he scored more than 100 goals in over 540 league appearances.
After football
After retiring, Peacock worked with the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, regularly appearing as a pundit on Football Focus
Football Focus
Football Focus is a BBC television show, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes, covering football, presented from the 2009/2010 season by Dan Walker...
, Score
Final Score
Final Score is a BBC TV programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is broadcast on late Saturday afternoons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually on BBC ONE. BBC Northern Ireland opts away during the last ten minutes to cover local results, BBC Scotland runs a different programme...
, Match of the Day 2
Match of the Day 2
Match of the Day 2 is a football highlights programme shown on BBC Two in the United Kingdom...
, BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
's comedy game show Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday...
and the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
comedy show "One". He also hosted a weekly podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
on the official Chelsea website.
Influenced by the positive change he saw in his mother when she became a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, and already a believer in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, he started attending the local Methodist church at the age of 18. From then on, his Christian faith became central to his life. He presented a feature on Football Focus about faith in the game in December 2006. He also presented Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
on 10 February 2008, at the same time as his coverage of the African Cup of Nations
African Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of Nations or African Nations Cup, officially CAN , is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football , and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been...
final. Having studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
from September 2006 at Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Ridley Hall is a theological college located in Sidgwick Avenue in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which trains intending ministers for the Church of England and other churches. It was founded in 1881 and named in memory of Nicholas Ridley, a leading protestant theologian of the sixteenth century...
, after completing his commentary duties at Euro 2008, he moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
for a three-year masters course in Divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
at Ambrose Seminary
Ambrose University College
Ambrose University College is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Calgary, Alberta.-History:Ambrose University College is the product of similar educational journeys begun in the first half of the twentieth century....
. Peacock's aim is to become a pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
or minister depending on which Christian denomination he chooses to work within.
Personal life
Married to Amanda, the couple have two children: son, Jake (b 1993), and daughter, Ava (b 1996). They had a house in BexleyBexley
Bexley is an South East London]] in the London Borough of Bexley, London, England. It is located on the banks of the River Cray south of the Roman Road, Watling Street...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
before Peacock started his studies, and a small holiday home in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
.