Peter Fox (born 5 July 1957) is an English former footballer who played in

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 ...

for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Playing career

Fox was born in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

and began his career with

, making his debut aged just 15 years 8 months, a club record in a 2–0 victory over

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. Unfortunately for Fox he broke his toe that day and lost his place to another younger keeper, Chris Turner. Following the arrival of

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

as manager in October 1977, Fox found himself in the reserves, Charlton liked big keepers who could kick the ball long into the opponents half. After spending time out on loan at

and a summer in the NASL with

Team Hawaii Team Hawaii was a soccer team based out of Honolulu that played in the NASL for one season, 1977. Their home field was Aloha Stadium. After two unsuccessful years as the San Antonio Thunder, the franchise moved to Hawai'i in time for the 1977 ...

paid £15,000 to sign Fox. After spending the 1978–79 season in the reserves, Fox took over from Roger Jones as number 1 in April 1980 as Stoke battled against relegation. He kept two clean sheets in the final two games which City won to stay up. Taking advice from the experienced Denis Smith Fox was ever present for Stoke in 1980–81 and 1983–84 as he won the

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

award in 1980–81, 1981–82 and 1989–90. Throughout his 15 years at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

Fox had to fight off competition and almost quit football after he felt he had been branded a cheat after being sent-off for handling outside of his area against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in September 1982. He was out injured for most of the awful 1984–85 season which saw Stoke relegated with a record low points tally. He was given a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

against Everton in 1989 and was appointed captain by Alan Ball in early 1990. He lost his place under new manager

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenny ...

in 1991–92 with

Jason Kearton Jason Brett Kearton (born 9 July 1969) is an Australian soccer coach and former professional Association football, player. He was a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper from 1987 until 2004. After starting his career with Queensland Li ...

and

Ronnie Sinclair Ronald McDonald Sinclair (born 19 November 1964) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. As a player he made 275 league and cup appearances in a 16-year professional career in the English Football League with N ...

being preferred. However, with both being cup-tied, Fox played in the

1992 Football League Trophy Final The 1992 Associate Members' Cup Final, known as the Autoglass Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 9th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Third Division and Fourth Division. The final was played at Wembley Stadi ...

as Stoke beat

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

1–0. He spent the autumn of 1992 on loan at Northern Irish club Linfield. He was recalled in October 1992 and made his long-awaited 400th league appearance for Stoke. Fox joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on loan, but didn't make an appearance as he was again recalled by Stoke to play in the last few matches of the 1992–93 promotion campaign. He was released on a free after making 477 appearances for Stoke and joined Alan Ball at

. He was named as the Devon side's Player of the Season for 1994 and 1995.

Managerial career

Following his release aged 36, he joined

, initially as player-coach, being made manager in 1995 after the departure of Terry Cooper. His time at the helm at Exeter was one of consistent mid-table mediocrity. The club was never in any serious relegation danger, however. He left

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

in January 2000, replaced by his assistant

Noel Blake Noel Lloyd George Blake (born 12 January 1962) is a former professional footballer and current coach. He was formerly the head coach of the England national under-19 football team. He played in the Football League for Aston Villa, Shrewsbury Tow ...

Personal life

His son, David Fox, is also a professional footballer. Fox was taken to court in July 2015 by former Stoke youth-team player George Blackstock who alleged that in the 1980s Fox assaulted and humiliated him in 'dressing-room pranks'. Fox was cleared of the claims in October 2015.

Career statistics

As a player

Source:

As a manager

Honours

; Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

third-place promotion: 1978–79 *

champions: 1992–93 *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

winner:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

* Exeter City Player of the Year: 1993–94, 1994–95 * Stoke City Player of the Year: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1989–90

References

External links

* *
Team Hawaii stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Peter 1957 births Living people Footballers from Scunthorpe English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players English football managers Exeter City F.C. managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Team Hawaii players English Football League players Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers