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.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter Litchfield[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1956-07-27) 27 July 1956 (age 65)[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) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
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]
Individual honours
Preston North End F.C. Player of the Year | |
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