Peter Farrell (footballer, born 1957)

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Peter Farrell
Personal information
Full name Peter John Farrell[1]
Date of birth (1957-01-10) 10 January 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Ormskirk
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1975–1978 Bury 54 (9)
1978–1981 Port Vale 89 (10)
1981 → Doncaster Rovers (loan) 0 (0)
1981 → Shrewsbury Town (loan) 0 (0)
1982–1984 Rochdale 73 (17)
1984–1985 Crewe Alexandra 28 (4)
1985 Västra Frölunda IF
1986 Norrby IF
1987–1988 Keflavík 25 (4)
1988 Hamilton Academical 3 (0)
1988–1989 APOEL 20 (1)
1989–1990 Barrow
Total 295+ (45+)
Managerial career
2016 Warri Wolves
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Peter John Farrell (born 10 January 1957) is an English former football player and coach.

He started his career as a midfielder with Bury in 1975, before he made a £40,000 move to Port Vale 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 after a short tour of Europe. During this tour he played for Västra Frölunda (Sweden), Norrby (Sweden), Keflavík (Iceland), Hamilton Academical (Scotland), and APOEL (Cyprus). He later spent ten years as a coach at Bolton Wanderers, and two years as a coach at Brentford. He was appointed manager of Warri Wolves (Nigeria) in February 2016, before briefly returning to former club Port Vale as a coach four months later.

Playing career[edit]

Farrell played for Ormskirk, before turning professional at Third Division Bury 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's Port Vale for a then-club record fee of £40,000 in November 1978.[3] He became a regular in the Fourth Division side, but was soon 'castigated' by Vale fans.[3] He finished 1978–79 with four goals in 29 games.[3] 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.[3] There was also a managerial merry-go-round at Vale Park, as Butler was replaced by Alan Bloor and then John McGrath. Farrell made thirty appearances in 1980–81, scoring twice, but found himself dropped by McGrath in February.[3]

He went on loan to Third Division Doncaster Rovers in August 1981 and Second Division Shrewsbury Town in October of that year.[3] However, he did not make a league appearances for either side, and played just four games for Vale in 1981–82.[3] He was given a free transfer in May 1982, and signed with Rochdale.[3]

Under manager Peter Madden, the "Dale" finished 1982–83 outside of the re-election zone on goal difference, after Blackpool were deducted two points. Rochdale finished third-from-bottom in 1983–84 under new manager Jimmy Greenhoff, but their peers voted them back into the Football League. The club improved under Vic Halom'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's Icelandic club 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 APOEL in Cyprus, he retired after a spell with English non-League side Barrow.

Coaching and managerial career[edit]

From the turn of the century Farrell played a role in youth development at Bolton Wanderers.[4] In ten years he worked his way up from under-18 coach to assistant academy director.[4] In July 2011, he was appointed as first-team coach at Brentford by manager Uwe Rösler.[5] Following Rösler's departure to Wigan Athletic on 7 December 2013, Farrell left the club nine days later.[6] He returned to football as manager of Nigeria Premier League side Warri Wolves in February 2016.[7] He was appointed as first-team coach at former club Port Vale in June 2016, working under new manager Bruno Ribeiro.[8] However, he never actually signed a contract with the club or took a day's training leaving chairman Norman Smurthwaite 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".[9] 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".[10]

Career statistics[edit]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[11]
Club Season League FA Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bury 1975–76 Third Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1976–77 Third Division 32 4 2 0 2 0 36 4
1977–78 Third Division 9 4 0 0 0 0 9 4
1978–79 Third Division 11 1 0 0 2 0 13 1
Total 54 9 2 0 4 0 60 0
Port Vale 1978–79 Fourth Division 28 4 1 0 0 0 29 4
1979–80 Fourth Division 32 5 1 0 0 0 33 5
1980–81 Fourth Division 25 1 4 1 2 0 31 2
1981–82 Fourth Division 4 0 0 4 0 0 4 0
Total 89 10 6 1 2 0 107 11
Doncaster Rovers (loan) 1981–82 Third Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shrewsbury Town (loan) 1981–82 Second Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rochdale 1982–83 Fourth Division 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
1983–84 Fourth Division 43 9 0 0 3 0 46 9
1984–85 Fourth Division 5 0 0 0 1 0 6 0
Total 73 17 2 1 7 0 82 18
Crewe Alexandra 1984–85 Fourth Division 8 1 0 0 0 0 8 1
1985–86 Fourth Division 20 1 1 0 2 0 23 1
Total 28 2 1 0 2 0 31 1

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Peter Farrell". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ Rollin, Jack (1980). Rothmans football yearbook. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 299. ISBN 0362020175. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 98. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  4. ^ a b "Peter Farrell". brentfordfc.co.uk. 1 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Bees Appoint First Team Coach". brentfordfc.co.uk. 1 July 2011. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  6. ^ Wickham, Chris. "Kernaghan and Farrel to leave". www.brentfordfc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Englishman Farrell takes over Nigeria's Warri Wolves - 2016 CAF Champions League - Bolton Wanderers". MTN Football. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  8. ^ Baggaley, Mike (20 June 2016). "Former record signing Peter Farrell returns as first-team coach". The Sentinel. Retrieved 20 June 2016.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Baggaley, Mike (13 July 2016). "Chairman warns of Plan B if Ribeiro's team aren't challenging for top six by Christmas". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Port Vale criticised as Peter Farrell move falls through". The Sentinel. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Peter Farrell at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
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