Peter Fox (footballer)

Peter Fox (born 5 July 1957) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Barnsley, Exeter City, Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City.[1]

Peter Fox

Personal information
Full name	Peter David Fox[1]
Date of birth	5 July 1957[1]
Place of birth	Scunthorpe, England[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1972–1978	Sheffield Wednesday	49	(0)
1977	→ Barnsley (loan)	1	(0)
1977	→ Team Hawaii (loan)	25	(0)
1978–1993	Stoke City	409	(0)
1992	→ Linfield (loan)
1993	→ Wrexham (loan)	0	(0)
1993–1999	Exeter City	108	(0)
Total		592	(0)
Teams managed
1995–2000	Exeter City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Fox was born in Scunthorpe and began his career with Sheffield Wednesday, making his debut aged just 15 years 8 months, a club record in a 2–0 victory over Leyton Orient. Unfortunately for Fox he broke his toe that day and lost his place to another younger keeper, Chris Turner. Following the arrival of Jack Charlton as manager in October 1977, Fox found himself in the reserves, Charlton liked big keepers who could kick the ball long into the opponents half. After spending time out on loan at Barnsley and a summer in the NASL with Team Hawaii, Stoke City paid £15,000 to sign Fox.[1]

After spending the 1978–79 season in the reserves, Fox took over from Roger Jones as number 1 in April 1980 as Stoke battled against relegation. He kept two clean sheets in the final two games which City won to stay up. Taking advice from the experienced Denis Smith Fox was ever present for Stoke in 1980–81 and 1983–84 as he won the player of the year award in 1980–81, 1981–82 and 1989–90. Throughout his 15 years at the Victoria Ground Fox had to fight off competition and almost quit football after he felt he had been branded a cheat after being sent-off for handling outside of his area against Luton Town in September 1982. He was out injured for most of the awful 1984–85 season which saw Stoke relegated with a record low points tally. He was given a testimonial against Everton in 1989 and was appointed captain by Alan Ball in early 1990.[1]

He lost his place under new manager Lou Macari in 1991–92 with Jason Kearton and Ronnie Sinclair being preferred. However, with both being cup-tied, Fox played in the 1992 Football League Trophy Final as Stoke beat Stockport County 1–0. He spent the autumn of 1992 on loan at Northern Irish club Linfield.[1] He was recalled in October 1992 and made his long-awaited 400th league appearance for Stoke. Fox joined Wrexham on loan, but didn't make an appearance as he was again recalled by Stoke to play in the last few matches of the 1992–93 promotion campaign.[1] He was released on a free after making 477 appearances for Stoke and joined Alan Ball at Exeter City.[1]

Managerial career

Following his release aged 36, he joined Exeter City, initially as player-coach, being made manager in 1995 after the departure of Terry Cooper. His time at the helm at Exeter was one of consistent mid-table mediocrity. The club was never in any serious relegation danger, however. He left St James Park in January 2000, replaced by his assistant Noel Blake.

Personal life

His son, David Fox, is also a professional footballer. Fox was taken to court in July 2015 by former Stoke youth-team player George Blackstock who alleged that in the 1980s Fox assaulted and humiliated him in 'dressing-room pranks'.[2] Fox was cleared of the claims in October 2015.[3]

Career statistics

As a player

Source:[4]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sheffield Wednesday	1972–73	Second Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1973–74	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1974–75	Third Division	20	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	21	0
	1975–76	Third Division	27	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	29	0
	1976–77	Third Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1977–78	Third Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		49	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	52	0
Barnsley (loan)	1977–78	Fourth Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team Hawaii (loan)	1977	NASL	25	0	—		—		—		25	0
Stoke City	1978–79	Second Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1979–80	First Division	23	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	25	0
	1980–81	First Division	42	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	46	0
	1981–82	First Division	38	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	41	0
	1982–83	First Division	35	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	39	0
	1983–84	First Division	42	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	48	0
	1984–85	First Division	14	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	16	0
	1985–86	Second Division	37	0	1	0	3	0	3	0	44	0
	1986–87	Second Division	39	0	5	0	2	0	1	0	47	0
	1987–88	Second Division	17	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	21	0
	1988–89	Second Division	29	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	32	0
	1989–90	Second Division	38	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	43	0
	1990–91	Third Division	44	0	3	0	4	0	2	0	53	0
	1991–92	Third Division	0	0	2	0	4	0	5	0	11	0
	1992–93	Second Division	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
	Total		409	0	22	0	32	0	14	0	477	0
Exeter City	1993–94	Second Division	26	0	4	0	4	0	0	0	34	0
	1994–95	Third Division	31	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	35	0
	1995–96	Third Division	46	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	51	0
	1996–97	Third Division	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
	Total		108	0	6	0	7	0	5	0	126	0
Career Total			592	0	31	0	38	0	19	0	680	0

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Full Members Cup and Football League Trophy.

As a manager

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Exeter City	4 August 1995	9 January 2000	235	69	70	96	029.36

Honours

Stoke City

• Football League Second Division third-place promotion: 1978–79
• Football League Second Division champions: 1992–93
• Football League Trophy winner: 1992
• Stoke City Player of the Year: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1989–90

References

1. Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287554.
2. "Stoke City legend Peter Fox 'humiliated' ex-player with Deep Heat assault, a court heard". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
3. "Former Stoke City goalie Peter Fox cleared of assaulting apprentice". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
4. Peter Fox at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

External links

• Peter Fox at Soccerbase
• Peter Fox management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Team Hawaii stats