Peter Storey

Arsenal

Storey signed as an apprentice at Arsenal after leaving school in 1961. As a young player he was focused on his career, and was not interested in frequenting nightclubs with his fellow apprentices. He signed professional forms in September 1962 and spent the 1962–63 season playing for the Arsenal third team in the Metropolitan League. A buildup of senior players on the books at Arsenal meant that Storey had little chance to play for the reserve team. He made his senior debut on 30 October 1965, taking Billy McCullough's place at left-back in a 3–1 defeat to Leicester City at Filbert Street. The Daily Telegraph reported that he had a "promising" game against a "clever" opponent in right-winger Jackie Sinclair. He retained his first team place and went on to play all of the remaining 29 games, though the season would prove to be a poor one for the "Gunners" as manager Billy Wright was sacked after dropping top-scorer Joe Baker and disillusioning the dressing room. Arsenal finished in 14th place in 1965–66, just four points above the relegation zone, and were knocked out of the FA Cup at the Third Round following a 3–0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers, who would end the season bottom of the First Division. Storey quickly made a name for himself as a rough player early in the 1966–67 season as he injured Manchester City winger Mike Summerbee; the Daily Express reported that "Storey... is overdoing the tough guy act". He was warned by new manager Bertie Mee not to get…

Despite being named by Arsenal fanatic Nick Hornby as the club's example of the one player that "most First Division teams ..[had in the 1970s]..who simply wasn't very good at football at all", Storey was the only player from Arsenal's Double-winning squad regularly to be capped by World Cup winning manager Alf Ramsey. His 19 caps stand in stark comparison to the paltry two won by John Radford, and four won by Bob McNab, all awarded by Ramsey. Charlie George's solitary cap and Ray Kennedy's 17 were all awarded by Ramsey's successors, and neither George Armstrong nor Peter Simpson ever won international honours. The other players in the Double winning squad were all from Scotland or Northern Ireland. Storey made his England debut on 21 April 1971, in a 3–0 win over Greece at Wembley in a qualifying game for UEFA Euro 1972. Despite at the time being used as a midfielder at club level he played at right-back as Ramsey wanted to assess his options at the full-back position; his rivals for the number 2 shirt were Keith Newton (Everton), Emlyn Hughes (Liverpool), Paul Reaney (Leeds United), Chris Lawler (Liverpool), and Paul Madeley (Leeds United). He almost did not play the game as Arsenal manager Bertie Mee ordered both Storey and teammate Bob McNab to pull out of the fixture to play a league game against Burnley the day before, but was allowed to play for England after coach Don Howe persuaded Mee to reconsider his decision. Storey picked up an assist in the match after…

Storey began his career as a right-back, and soon picked up a reputation as a powerful tackler. Later in his career he was deployed as a defensive midfielder so as to break up opposition play further up the pitch. He gained a reputation as Arsenal's "hard man" in a violent era of British football where clubs would typically employ at least one tough player willing to use dirty play to hurt the opposition and to protect their own generally more skilled players. He later said that he made premeditated tackles from behind early in matches to try and intimidate opponents at a time when referees were reluctant to punish fouls. His rough play was frequently criticised by pundits, though during the 1970s the footballing authorities took little action to try and punish him or any other of football's "hard men". Teammate Bob McNab, quoted in Seventy-One Guns wrote that "Peter was a nightmare for players when he marked them man for man". He was also an efficient taker of penalty kicks, and the only penalties he missed had little bearing on the final result of the match.

"Here are a few choice words which have been used to describe me: assassin, bastards' bastard (courtesy of 'Chopper' Harris), boot boy, bully, calculating, 'cold eyes', destructive, dirty, hatchet man, merciless, pernicious, rogue, ruthless, thug, vicious."

Storey was born on 7 September 1945 in Farnham, Surrey, to Edwin, a carpenter and builder, and Nellie, a part-time shop assistant. As a child he would occasionally accompany his father to matches at the Recreation Ground to see Aldershot play in the Fourth Division. However, he began supporting Arsenal from an early age. From the age of 11 he was coached by former Aldershot striker Charlie Mortimore for the Aldershot and Farnborough Schools Football Association. He soon attracted the attention of Arsenal with his performances at schoolboy level, and impressed across the back four enough to represent England Schoolboys.