Peter Litchfield (born 27 July 1956) 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 ...

. He started his career with

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

and 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 ...

with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, Oldham Athletic and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Career

Born in 1956 in

Manchester 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 Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, Litchfield started his career as a junior player with Manchester City and made three reserve appearances before being released at the end of the 1976–1977 season. He turned down a move to Stockport County and returned to City in September 1977 to play for the juniors on a monthly basis following an injury to another young keeper, Tony Armstrong.Manchester City v Bristol City football programme, 24 September 1977, p20 Later he moved on to local non-league side

. In January 1979, he was signed by

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 ...

-side

for £3,000. He waited two years to replace first-choice goalkeeper Roy Tunks for his Preston debut, which came on 28 February 1981 against Chelsea, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a 1–0 victory and earning '' The Sun'' newspaper's man of the match award. His prize was a £1,000 charity cheque, which he donated to a motor neurone disease cause, in memory of former Preston player Mel Holden, who had died from the disease. He made another two appearances in the Second Division, as the club were relegated in the 1980–81 season, and went on to play a total of 107 league appearances with Preston, winning the club's player of the year in the 1983–84 season. His Preston career ended with relegation to 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 ...

. In June 1985, he joined

on a free transfer, following their promotion into the Second Division. He replaced Eric McManus, who had been injured in pre-season. After making his debut on 17 August 1985 in a 2–1 victory at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, he went on to be an ever-present in his first season with City. He played another 39 games the following season, but in June 1987, City signed

Paul Tomlinson Paul Tomlinson (born 4 February 1965) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Sheffield United, Birmingham City (on loan) and Bradford City. Bradford City signed Tomlinson for a club record £47,500 from Sheffield United ...

from Sheffield United for a club record fee of £47,500. Litchfield played only five more league games for City, and following a loan spell with Oldham Athletic in October 1988, he joined

in June 1989 as competition for

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all ...

. Litchfield played 25 league games for Scunthorpe in the Fourth Division but a knee problem limited his appearances during the 1990–91 season, which brought about his retirement at the age of 34.

Honours

Individual honours * Preston North End player of the season: 1983–84

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litchfield, Peter 1956 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Droylsden F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers