Peter David Grotier (born 18 October 1950) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 ...

. In a senior career that started in 1969, he played for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, Cardiff City, Lincoln City and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, where he later became a coach and, briefly, caretaker manager.

Career

Born in Stratford, Grotier started playing as a goalkeeper at

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

but his early career was curtailed once he moved on to West Ham Tech, with the presence of the West Ham Schools goalkeeper restricting him to the role of understudy. He was spotted by Clapton and played in various Sunday leagues in the local area, before being approached by

chief scout

Wally St Pier Stanley Walter St Pier (8 October 1904 – 1989) was an English footballer and scout. Career St Pier arrived at West Ham United from Ilford in April 1929 making his senior debut in October 1929 against Leicester City. Spending most of his tim ...

. After playing a game for the Hammers in the

South East Counties League The South East Counties League (SECL) was a football league for the youth teams of clubs from Southern England. The competition grew out of the Middlesex Youth Invitation Cup set up in the 1950s by the Middlesex FA and was formerly known as the ...

early in the 1966–67 season, he signed forms for a year-long

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

on the day of his 16th birthday. After signing professional forms a year later, he was part of the West Ham A team which, as well as winning trophies in the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Southern Junior Floodlit Cup in 1967 and again in 1969, when they also won the

South East Counties League Cup The South East Counties League (SECL) was a football league for the youth teams of clubs from Southern England. The competition grew out of the Middlesex Youth Invitation Cup set up in the 1950s by the Middlesex FA and was formerly known as the ...

. Grotier made his first team debut for West Ham on 19 April 1969, a First Division encounter against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. The game was the culmination of an eight-day period in which he also played for the youth team and the 'A' team, as well as two reserve games. He played for the club until 1974, mostly as understudy to Bobby Ferguson. He went loan to Cardiff City in 1973, and then spent a month at Lincoln City at the start of the 1974–75 season. West Ham were asking for at least £20,000 for his transfer and his stay at Lincoln was only made permanent after fans raised money for the fee. Grotier made a total of 263 League and cup appearances for Lincoln, including a run of 134 consecutive appearances, and was an ever-present during the 1975–76 season. His first two seasons at the club earned him spots in the PFA Division Four Team of the Year in both seasons. He signed for Cardiff City for £25,000 in 1979, but made only 38 League appearances for the Welsh side before moving on to

in 1982. He later became reserve-team coach at the club, and had a spell as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

in 1985. He made an appearance for the Mariners in an

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 ...

game against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in 1986, at the age of 36.

Notes

References

External links

Lincoln City profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grotier, Peter 1950 births Living people Footballers from Stratford, London English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers West Ham United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Clapton F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff Grimsby Town F.C. managers English Football League players English Football League managers English football managers Association football goalkeeping coaches