Position : Centre half
Played : 1994-95 to 1995-96
Appearances : 50
Goals : 2
Peter was signed from Carlisle for £15,000 immediately after they'd thrashed us 4-1. He began his career at Huddersfield in the early 80s making 19 appearances before moving to Bolton in 1983. After two seasons and 68 appearances he transferred to Bury in 1985 on a free. He proved a tremendous signing ,ever-present in his first two seasons and never playing less than 30 games in the subsequent six at Gigg Lane. He had a reputation as a model professional. In 1993 Carlisle bought him for £10,000 but he played less regularly for them making 29 appearances before their chairman Michael "The aliens are coming !" Knighton suggested to Dave Sutton that he sign him.
Sutton had spent weeks chasing Huddersfield's Peter Jackson to replace Alan Reeves but he patently didn't want to play for us so this Peter's signing was well overdue. He slotted into the back four and steadied the ship straightaway (along with Ian Gray in the nets) ; if we'd had another striker and an in-form Mark Stuart the season may have been salvaged. He was the epitome of the solid centre half, good in the air, sound positioning , didn't try anything fancy and avoided getting booked too often. Peter played every game to the end of the season but what Mr Knighton hadn't mentioned in his haste to help us out was that Peter was playing on borrowed time. 319 games for Bury had worn down the cartilage in his knees and they weren't going to last him much longer. I'm sure that just slipped Knighton's mind. Peter managed to play in half the games the following season including the FA Cup tie at Anfield where he scored an own goal but was struggling by the spring. His final appearance at home to Gillingham in March was very sad as he had to come off after 5 minutes. By this time he was effectively the assistant-manager taking all the training sessions as Docherty was bogged down by complications in his private life. Docherty wanted to make this a permanent arrangement but the Board deemed this unaffordable (not that Joe Hinnigan played any games the following season).
I don't know what Peter went on to do after his playing career ended.
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