Martin Peters RIP

England and West Ham legend Martin Peters has passed away today.

Scorer of one of England’s four goals in the 1966 World Cup final, Peters was also the first player to move for £200,000. This was after 11 years at West Ham.

He died peacefully after a long and courageous battle with illness.

“He is the fifth member of English football's greatest-ever team now sadly lost - along with Alan Ball, Ray Wilson, Gordon Banks and his fellow West Ham Academy hero and great friend, Bobby Moore"

Ramsey himself said Peters was "10 years ahead of his time".

He’ll go down as one of West Ham’s greatest players, and a legend for his country. He spent 11 years at West Ham before spells with Tottenham, Norwich and a year at Sheffield United. He won a Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup and two league cups, as well as the obvious World Cup win that will ensure a level of immortality in the game in this country.

Dolph - a good and much deserved tribute to a very fine player. 

I grew up in the Coventry area and saw him a few times when he played against us at the old Highfield Road ground in the late '60s and into the '70s. I most remember a game around Christmas '77 when Coventry beat Norwich 5-4 with Peters scoring one for Olly's boys. 

As well as Ramsey's ''10 years ahead of his time time'' quote, the other saying or description attached to him was ''The Ghost''. Fully utilising his clever football brain, he regularly ghosted unnoticed into goal scoring positions. 

It's often overlooked that he would have been the scorer of England's winner in the '66 World Cup final had Wolfgang Weber not equalised in the 90th minute to take the game into extra-time. Rather than Sir Geoff, that might have ultimately meant Sir Martin. RIP.

Dolph, guildford,

Was at Upton Park on the first day of the 66/67 season (vs Chelsea, and only because planned outing to the Saturday of the WI/England 5th Test was thwarted by yuuuuge demand so locked out), the first game for Hurst, Moore & Peters after the WC.

Martin Peters was a fabulous player, can't ever remember him blasting a goal, always seemed to pass it into the net, almost like De Bruyne but perhaps without quite the workrate.

Ramsey's 10 years ahead of his time tribute was spot on. RIP The Ghost.

kwinigolfer wrote:Dolph, guildford,

Was at Upton Park on the first day of the 66/67 season (vs Chelsea, and only because planned outing to the Saturday of the WI/England 5th Test was thwarted by yuuuuge demand so locked out), the first game for Hurst, Moore & Peters after the WC.

Martin Peters was a fabulous player, can't ever remember him blasting a goal, always seemed to pass it into the net, almost like De Bruyne but perhaps without quite the workrate.

Ramsey's 10 years ahead of his time tribute was spot on. RIP The Ghost.

Kwini - don't know if you can get access but at the end of MotD2 last night there was a small tribute to Martin Peters. Included a snippt wth Wolstenholme commentary of Peters, Moore and Hurst running onto the pitch ahead of the rest of the West Ham team for the first match of the 66/67 season. Although not mentioned on the brief comentary we heard, they were all wearing black armbands - hmmm, no idea why.

No idea guildford. Would be tough to research as well, considering it could be in reference to departures during the summer.
Couldn't begin to guess. But if Chelsea didn't wear armbands that would suggest a WHU casualty.
Wonder if the Corporal can figure it out?

Hi Kwini - yeah, I thought that would beat even you. The clip shown only featured West Ham's 3 WC winners so don't know if Chelsea were also wearing armbands.

The Corporal has been missing for some time and is much missed.

Merry Christmas to you and all.

Merry Christmas guildford, and hope the Corporal will return from patrol shortly.

Haven't been on here for a few days but popping in now and would like to add my nod to the sad passing of Martin Peters . Long time ago now but still recall the thrill his scoring of that goal gave me ...as guildford says might have been remembered as the ultimate winner !

Five gone now from that team...we are all getting older , eh ? RIP...

I see Harry Gregg's death has been announced. Great man by many accounts, certainly a hero at Munich.

Wonder if that means Sir Bobby is the last remaining survivor?

kwinigolfer wrote:I see Harry Gregg's death has been announced. Great man by many accounts, certainly a hero at Munich.

Wonder if that means Sir Bobby is the last remaining survivor?

I do believe the woman and baby saved by Harry are alive too. A great goalkeeper by all accounts and an even better man.

Soul Requiem wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:I see Harry Gregg's death has been announced. Great man by many accounts, certainly a hero at Munich.

Wonder if that means Sir Bobby is the last remaining survivor?

I do believe the woman and baby saved by Harry are alive too. A great goalkeeper by all accounts and an even better man.

Yup, should have specified Man Utd playing staff.
There are some wonderful interviews with Harry Gregg in the BBC archives, well worth a listen.

The word 'hero' is used far too much about sports people. Harry Gregg pulled several people out of a crashed plane in Munich - he definitely deserves that word.