David Sidney Peach (born 21 January 1951) is a former footballer, who played at left back for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the

FA Cup Final 1976 The 1976 FA Cup Final was the 95th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 1 May 1976 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Manchester United and Southampton. United had finished third in the First Division that season, and were strong fav ...

Playing career

Chelsea and Gillingham

Peach played briefly as an associate schoolboy for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, before moving to Gillingham as an apprentice in May 1966, turning pro in February 1969. He also played minor counties cricket for

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

. In 1972, he was sent off in successive seasons in matches at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

, a coincidence in an era when sendings-off were still very uncommon. Peach was named in the 1973–74 Fourth Division PFA Team of the Year. He was rated the best player in the Fourth Division and came to the attention of

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English ...

who made him his first signing for Southampton in January 1974, for a reported fee of £50,000.

Southampton

He made his debut in a match that is memorable to Saints fans for all the wrong reasons as Southampton lost 7–0 away to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. Peach soon settled into the team initially in midfield before becoming an imaginative, quick thinking attacking left-back and the club's regular penalty taker. His first penalty was probably the most famous, as he scored the second goal against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

in the FA Cup semi-final on 3 April 1976. Peach played in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

as Southampton won 1–0. He was named in the 1976–77 Second Division PFA Team of the Year. Peach also played in the 1979 League Cup final, scoring the opening goal in a 3–2 loss to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He and

Nick Holmes Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (born 7 January 1971) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist of British gothic metal/ doom metal band Paradise Lost and Swedish death metal band Bloodbath. History and style Holmes formed Paradis ...

are the only two players to have played in two Cup Finals for Southampton. He played several times for the England under-21 and 'B' teams, and was in the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

squad on their tour of South America in June 1977, although he never played. On 18 August 1979, he became the highest scoring full-back in the history of the Football League when he scored a penalty against Manchester United.

Swindon and Orient

He was transferred to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

for £150,000 (then Swindon's record signing) in March 1980. Signed by Bobby Smith to replace Town legend John Trollope, circumstances were against Peach from the very moment he joined the club; his time at Swindon had the worst possible start - his debut coming in 6–2 defeat at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

. That defeat, along with the size of the transfer fee, got Peach off to a terrible start with the fans - and he was never a popular player throughout his whole Town career. By March 1982, Swindon were in financial difficulties and Peach was released to

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

on a free transfer to reduce the club's wage bill, after a disappointing period at the County Ground. In moving to Orient, he swapped a team heading for relegation to Division 4 for one heading for relegation from Division 2. While at Orient, he became the first player to have played on every Football League ground.

After football

After retiring from league football, Peach turned out for several Hampshire non-league clubs, including a spell as player-manager at Wellworthy Athletic in

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

and Lymington Town. Nowadays, he lives in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

where he runs his own building business.

Honours

As a player

Southampton *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

runners-up:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Individual * PFA Division Four Team of the Year: 1973–74 * PFA Division Two Team of the Year: 1976–77 * Southampton Player of the Season: 1975–76

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peach, David 1951 births Living people English footballers England B international footballers England under-21 international footballers Southampton F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Andover F.C. players People from Milford on Sea Association football defenders English football managers Wellworthy Athletic F.C. managers Lymington Town F.C. managers FA Cup Final players