The Capital One Cup clash between Burton Albion and Brighton & Hove Albion brings together two clubs where Peter Ward made his reputation as an extraordinary footballer of immense skill and goalscoring ability.
Kuen-Wah Cheung looks back at the forward’s journey from Burrowash to Brighton via Burton.At first, despite excelling with local side Borrowash United against much older players, this fleet-footed striker was considered too small to make it into professional football.
Indeed, one of his school teachers, Mr Kelly, said Ward had "no chance" when 'advising’ of his career prospects.
Once he left school at 15, Wardy got a job as an apprentice engine fitter with Rolls Royce, and continued playing football in his spare time.
Speaking from his current home in America, Peter said, "I was playing in local leagues, Saturday and Sunday, after leaving school. Although I was scoring a lot of goals, it never crossed my mind that I could be playing football professionally.”
Ward's weekends were packed with football, playing for Redfern Athletic on Saturday and Borrowash on Sunday afternoon. He even found time for a third side, GIC (General Industrial Cleaners), with whom he turned out for on Sunday mornings.
After hitting over a hundred goals in a season, Burton’s scout Jim Phelps sang Ward’s praises to the manager Ken Gutteridge, who was also impressed.
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The young striker signed an amateur contract with the Southern League Premier Division side in 1974."It was semi-pro, so I was being paid for something I loved,” Peter reminisces. "I hadn’t been paid for playing football before.”
He then made his debut for the Brewers at Tamworth in the Birmingham Senior Cup in September 1974.
“It was Frank Wignall, Ian Storey-Moore and me up front; it was unreal. I scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win.
“From then on, I kept my place in the team. I learnt a lot from both Frank and Ian, and both had careers with Nottingham Forest, who I eventually played for too."
Unsurprisingly, Peter attracted interest from Football League club scouts following his prolific start with Burton in 1974/75. In November 1974, after sparkling performances in a 4-2 victory over Cambridge City, team-mate Frank Corrigan and he were the subjects of a £2,000 bid from Albion boss Peter Taylor, himself a former manager with the Staffordshire side in the 1960s.
When the news was leaked to the press by Burton chairman Tom Bradbury, manager Gutteridge resigned citing ‘a gross lack of professional expertise’.
Brighton’s bid was rejected though. "I would have been a bit disappointed about that but had to get on with it,” admits Peter, who went on to amass an impressive goal tally of 26 in his one season with Burton.
In a bizarre twist, Gutteridge had joined Brighton as Taylor’s trainer, and had done so on the proviso that the Sussex side purchase Ward.
In May 1975, having seen Ward play a few times before, Taylor kept his side of the bargain, having studied Burton at Maidstone with assistant Brian Deaykin.
In his autobiography ‘With Clough by Taylor,' the manager wrote, “The pitch was bad; Burton, who had turned up with a scratch side, were bad; and Ward was bad - yet he still showed a few class touches, enough to make a £4,000 gamble.”
Read part two tomorrow at seagulls.co.uk.
[h=2]UPCOMING HOME FIXTURES[/h][h=3]ALBION V CARDIFF
[/h]TUESday 30TH september, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V MIDDLESBROUGH
[/h]SATURDAY 18th OCTOBER, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]Albion v ROTHERHAM
[/h]saturDAY 25TH october, kick-off 3pm
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