Peter John Farrell (born 10 January 1957) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He started his career as a midfielder with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

in 1975, before he made a £40,000 move to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in 1978. Loaned out to Doncaster Rovers and Shrewsbury Town in 1981, he joined Rochdale in 1982. He transferred to Crewe Alexandra in 1985, before he finished his career at non-League

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

after a short tour of Europe. During this tour he played for Västra Frölunda (Sweden), Norrby (Sweden), Keflavík (Iceland), Hamilton Academical (Scotland), and

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

(Cyprus). He later spent ten years as a coach at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, and two years as a coach at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. He was appointed

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Warri Wolves Warri Wolves FC (formerly called NPA FC) is a Nigerian football club formerly run by the Nigeria Port Authority. Prior to 2003 the club was based in Warri, Delta State, but moved to Lagos after promotion to the Nigerian Premier League in 2003. ...

(Nigeria) in February 2016, before briefly returning to former club Port Vale as a coach four months later.

Playing career

Farrell played for Ormskirk, before turning professional at

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1975. Under Bobby Smith, the "Shakers" posted mid-table finishes in 1975–76 and 1976–77, before continuing to finish an equally uneventful 1977–78 campaign in mid-table under the management of Bob Stokoe. During his three years at the club Farrell made 54 league appearances, scoring nine goals. Farrell joined

Dennis Butler Dennis Anthony Butler (born 24 June 1944) is an English former football player and manager. He played as a winger for Bolton Wanderers between 1959 and 1968, before ending his playing career following a five-year spell at Rochdale. Later wor ...

for a then- club record fee of £40,000 in November 1978. He became a regular in the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

side, but was soon 'castigated' by Vale fans. He finished 1978–79 with four goals in 29 games. The "Valiants" avoided finishing second-from-bottom in 1979–80 following two wins in the final two games of the campaign – despite this Farrell scored five goals in 33 games, and Vale won in each of the five games in which he scored. There was also a

ial merry-go-round at Vale Park, as Butler was replaced by

Alan Bloor Alan Bloor (born 16 March 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. He made 394 league appearances in the Football League for both Potteries teams. He spent eighteen years as a centre-half at Stoke City between 1960 and 1978, helping ...

and then John McGrath. Farrell made thirty appearances in 1980–81, scoring twice, but found himself dropped by McGrath in February. He went on loan to Third Division Doncaster Rovers in August 1981 and Second Division Shrewsbury Town in October of that year. However, he did not make a league appearances for either side, and played just four games for Vale in 1981–82. He was given a free transfer in May 1982, and signed with Rochdale. Under manager Peter Madden, the "Dale" finished 1982–83 outside of the re-election zone on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

, after

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were deducted two points. Rochdale finished third-from-bottom in 1983–84 under new manager

Jimmy Greenhoff James Greenhoff (born 19 June 1946) is an English former association football, footballer. He was a skilful Forward (association football), forward and although capped five times at England national under-23 football team, under-23 level, once a ...

, but their peers voted them back into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. The club improved under

Vic Halom Victor Lewis "Vic" Halom (born 3 October 1948 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England) is a former footballer Biography Playing career Halom featured as a player most prominently for Sunderland and Oldham Athletic. He played as centre forw ...

's stewardship, and finished seventeenth in 1984–85, still only three points above the re-election zone. During these difficult times Farrell played 73 league games, hitting seventeen goals. He joined Crewe Alexandra for the 1985–86 campaign, playing 28 league games for Dario Gradi's side, scoring four goals. He then moved to Sweden before he switched to

Frank Upton Frank Upton (18 October 1934 – 17 May 2011) was an English professional football player and manager. Playing career Upton, a hard tackling central defender, began his football career with Nuneaton Borough. He moved to Northampton Town in Marc ...

's Icelandic outfit IBK Keflavík, playing 25 games in the Úrvalsdeild, scoring four goals. He later flew to Scotland to play three games for Hamilton Academical. After playing for

in Cyprus, he retired after a spell with English non-League side

Coaching and managerial career

From the turn of the century Farrell played a role in youth development at

. In ten years he worked his way up from under-18

to assistant academy director. In July 2011, he was appointed as first team coach at

by manager

Uwe Rösler Uwe Rösler (; born 15 November 1968) is a German football manager and former professional footballer. As a player he was a centre forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchester City, where he was the leading goalscorer for three ...

. Following Rösler's departure to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 7 December 2013, Farrell left the club nine days later. He returned to football as manager of Nigeria Premier League side

in February 2016. He was appointed as first team coach at former club Port Vale in June 2016, working under new manager

Bruno Ribeiro Bruno Miguel Fernandes Ribeiro (born 22 October 1975) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who is now the head coach at Campeonato de Portugal club Moura. A midfielder with a powerful left-foot strike, he began his playing ca ...

. However, he never actually signed a contract with the club or took a day's training leaving chairman

Norman Smurthwaite Norman Smurthwaite (born 8 August 1960) is an English businessman and former football club chairman. He qualified as an engineer and built a successful business career and property portfolio before retiring at the age of 50. He took over as chair ...

to explain that "''...it is just not geographically possible and it has put a lot of pressure on him, so Peter is now not going to be part of the future''". Farrell did not find out about the club's change of heart until he heard it reported on the radio, and said "It would have been more respectful if someone had the decency to ring me up rather than leave it for 10 days".

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Peter 1957 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bury F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Norrby IF players Västra Frölunda IF players Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland English expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Knattspyrnudeild Keflavík players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus APOEL FC players Barrow A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players National League (English football) players Cypriot First Division players British expatriates in Nigeria English expatriate football managers Warri Wolves F.C. managers Nigeria Professional Football League managers Association football coaches Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff