Gavin Peacock

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Gavin Peacock
Personal information
Full name	Gavin Keith Peacock
Date of birth	November 18, 1967 (1967-11-18) (age 40)
Place of birth	Eltham, England
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1984–1987 1987 1987–1989 1989–1990 1990–1993 1993–1996 1996 1996–2002 2001	Queens Park Rangers → Gillingham (loan) Gillingham Bournemouth Newcastle United Chelsea → Queens Park Rangers (loan) Queens Park Rangers → Charlton Athletic (loan)	017 0(1) 006 0(0) 064 (11) 056 0(8) 105 (35) 103 (17) 005 0(2) 186 (34) 005 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 February 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Gavin Keith Peacock (born 18 November 1967 in Eltham, London) is a jewish former English professional football player who played primarily in midfield but often as a striker. He then worked in the media as a pundit, and from September 2008 will relocate to Canada to study theology.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Football career 1.3 After football 1.4 Personal life 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The son of a footballer, Peacock attended Bexley Grammar School as a child.^[1]He played schoolboy international football for England.

[edit] Football career

Peacock started his career at Queens Park Rangers. He moved to Gillingham in 1987 in a move which was started by his father, Keith, Gillingham's manager. Shortly after joining, his father was sacked by the club but Gavin remained on as a player. He was signed by Harry Redknapp for Bournemouth in 1989 before moving to Newcastle United a year later. He was handed an opportunity to play in the Premier League by Chelsea.

Peacock famously scored both home and away for Chelsea in 1–0 victories over Manchester United in the 1993–94 season. Both sides met again in the FA Cup Final, and with the score at 0–0, Peacock hit the crossbar from 25 yards. Manchester United went on to win the FA Cup and achieve the double. Peacock finished joint top scorer that season with an impressive 14 goals from midfield. At the time, football pundits were pressing for Peacock to be called-up to the England international squad, though this never occurred.

Peacock returned to Queens Park Rangers in 1996. He made a cameo appearance in the Premiership in 2001 after going on loan to Charlton Athletic in 2001, where his father was now assistant manager. Peacock returned to QPR for the 2001/2 season, at the end if which he retired, having made 196 appearances in total for the club.^[1] In total he scored more than 100 goals in over 540 league appearances.

[edit] After football

After retiring, Peacock worked with the BBC, regularly appearing as a pundit on Football Focus, Score, Match of the Day 2, and the BBC Radio 4 comedy show "One". He also hosted a weekly podcast on the official Chelsea website.^[2][3]

Having become a Christian at aged 19 by the influence of his mother, he presented a feature on Football Focus about faith in the game in December 2006. He also presented Songs of Praise on February 10, 2008,^[4] at the same time as his coverage of the African Cup of Nations final. Having studied theology from September 2006 at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, after completing his commentary duties at Euro 2008, he will move to Canada on a three-year masters course in Divinity at Ambrose Seminary.^[5] Peacock's aim is to become a pastor, vicar or minister depending on which denomination he chooses to follow.

[edit] Personal life

Married to Amanda, the couple have two children: son, Jake (b 1992), and daughter, Ava (b 1995). They had a house in Kent before Peacock started his studies, and a small holiday home in Canada in the Rocky Mountains.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gavin Peacock talks about his Christian faith to Philip Halcrow of The War Cry