Alan Peacock is a Middlesbrough legend.Born and raised in the town 80 years ago, he played for the club he supported as a lad with great distinction.
His strike partnership with the prolific Brian Clough was hugely successful and when the latter moved up the A19 to Sunderland, Peacock took over the chief goalscoring duties, finishing Boro’s top scorer for two successive seasons.
He won an England call-up and travelled to the 1962 World Cup, staying with the squad in the less than salubrious surroundings of a mining company’s headquarters - a far cry from the kind of luxury hotels the modern day players are housed in at major tournaments.
After scoring 141 goals for Boro, Peacock move to upwardly-mobile Leeds United where he would play for fellow Teessider Don Revie.
He won a Division Two Championship medal with United in 1964 and a year later had to settle for runners-up medals in the FA Cup final and the Division One title race.
A serious knee injury suffered in a pre-season friendly in East Germany later that summer would ultimately curtail his career, which ended following a brief stingt with Plymouth at the age of 30.
In an in-depth interview with Philip Tallentire, Peacock talks about growing up in North Ormesby, breaking into the Boro team, spending two years in the Army doing his National Service and playing with stars like Clough at Boro and Jimmy Greaves for England.
He also recounts the time he turned down a move moves to Bill Shankley’s Liverpool and Bill Nicholson’s Tottenham due to a heart-breaking family tragedy before eventually agreeing to join Leeds.
It’s a remarkable tale and one well worth listening to. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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