view Peacock's match-by-match record
 
Lee PEACOCK

Having settled his contract at Sheffield Wednesday, Town manager Iffy Onuora persuaded Peacock to sign a two-and-a-half year deal at Swindon in January 2006, after he had turned down a strong approach from Walsall as he wanted to move down south for family reasons. Peacock made his debut as a goalscoring substitute - coming on with fifteen minutes to go in a home match with Bournemouth on January 21st, he scored a last minute goal that wrapped the game up for the Town at 4-2.

Despite only scoring one more goal during the rest of the campaign, his honest, hard-working attitude made him a firm favourite with the Town fans almost immediately. Despite a knee injury picked up at Colchester in mid-March, he attempted to play through the pain barrier - until hobbling off just before half-time at Swansea on April 11th. By now, it was obvious that Peacock needed surgery, but he decided to take a role described by Onuora as "super sub" - making two further cameo appearances in the following two matches. When the Town's relegation to League Two was confirmed, Peacock was rested before going under the knife during the close season.

Peacock returned to action at the start of the new season, scoring the goal that won the opening day fixture at Hartlepool, and making a hard-working partnership with Christian Roberts. Peacock in particular ran himself into the ground during the opening matches - so much so that he was substituted in seven of the first eight games - but all seven were won as the Town stormed to the top of the table, despite neither striker being particularly prolific in front of goal.

Come the end of October, new manager Dennis Wise resigned to take over at Leeds, and when Paul Sturrock - the man who allowed Peacock to leave Wednesday - took over the reins, Peacock's days at Swindon were thought to be numbered by some. When Sturrock left him out of his first starting eleven, a 1-0 victory at Torquay - it seemed like these fears might come true, but after Peacock came on to win the penalty from which Roberts scored the winner, he regained his place in the starting line-up the following week, before a shoulder injury sustained in an FA Cup tie with Morecambe sidelined him for a couple of games.

With Sturrock very obviously on the lookout for more firepower up front, he declared that Peacock had much to offer in other areas of the pitch - suggesting that he could be utilised in the centre of midfield or defence, or even at right back - and during December and January, Peacock alternated his attacking role with occasional periods in midfield or on the wing. Despite this, the Christmas period yielded three goals for the "Peaconator" - two of which proved to be winning efforts over fellow promotion candidates Wycombe and MK Dons.

Peacock scored just one more goal in his next ten games - a period when he regularly started the game as a striker, but was dropped back into midfield by the end of the match. The switch to midfield was made more permanent at the end of March, when a reshuffle sparked by the loan signing of striker Barry Corr resulted in Peacock dropping back behind the new front pairing of Corr with Lukas Jutkiewicz for a promotion clash at Lincoln. Peacock performed well, topping it off with the Town's third goal, and he remained in midfield for the rest of the season, playing through a hamstring injury as Swindon eventually secured an automatic promotion place. Peacock's hardworking style also earned him a reward from the fans, who chose him as both the Swindon Advertiser and the PFA League Two Fans' Player of the Year.

A striker shortage meant that Peacock was to return to the forward line for the start of the 2007/08 campaign, and it wasn't until mid-September that he slotted back into the midfield to partner new signing Craig Easton, before Peacock spent a spell in November on the left flank. After scoring at Leeds in a 2-1 defeat, Peacock missed four games with a thigh injury - a period during which manager Paul Sturrock departed for Plymouth. Peacock admitted that he would now effectively be "on trial" at the club again under a new boss, and made it clear that he wished to remain at the County Ground, with his contract due to expire at the season's end.

At first, new manager Maurice Malpas used Peacock in his now familiar central midfield role - and he was quick to tie Peacock to a two year contract extension in February, highlighting Peacock as a key man for his longer term plans, and saying that it was one of the easiest deals he had ever done. By the end of the month though, Peacock was forced out of the side, after a reckless challenge in a home match with Huddersfield led to a straight red card, and a three match ban. The Town were in the middle of an alarming slide down the table, and soon after his return, Malpas restored Peacock to the forward line - when the change resulted in three wins from five games, with two goals from Peacock, Malpas announced that he would consider Peacock as a forward player, not a midfielder, for the 2008/09 campaign.

However, when the Town didn't start well, Malpas was forced into a U-turn, and after Peacock started the season on the bench, he returned to the starting eleven in October, back in the centre of midfield, with Malpas opting for a more defensive line-up. His typical all-action displays kept him in the side right into the New Year - though in November, a niggling back injury sidelined him for a couple of games - a period that coincided with Malpas' sacking as manager. On the day that new boss Danny Wilson was watching in the stands, Peacock gave his former boss an instant reminded of what he was capable of - scoring within the first minute of the Boxing Day clash at Leyton Orient. Peacock soon admitted that the appointment of Wilson was great for him personally, and that as soon as his name was mentioned, Wilson was the man he had hoped would be given the job.

A recurrence of the back injury kept Peacock out for over a month from the end of January, and though he made a goalscoring return against Scunthorpe at the end of February, he made just one more start, before succumbing to the injury once more. After explaining that his back had been troubling him for four years, and that he regularly used pain-killing injections to carry on playing, he decided to go under the knife for surgery, which kept him out for the remainder of the season.

It was only to get worse over the summer - after contracting a spinal infection after the surgery, it was well into September before he made his comeback in the reserves, and Peacock admitted that the injury could easily have ended his career. Over the following months, with strike pairing Charlie Austin and Billy Paynter in goalscoring form, Peacock had to settle for late cameo appearances from the bench, until the signing of Vincent Péricard in January saw him move further down the pecking order. Rumours that his former club Carlisle were interested proved unfounded, but Peacock signed for Grimsby before the end of the month, a move that he described as the "hardest decision of his career".

PLAYING RECORD:

Season LEAGUE FA CUP LEAGUE CUP OTHER TOTAL
Played Gls Played Gls Played Gls Played Gls Played Gls
'09/'10 (+4) - (+2) - - - (+1) - (+7) -
'08/'09 17 (+10) 2 1 - (+1) - 2 1 20 (+11) 3
'07/'08 36 (+1) 6 3 - 1 - - - 40 (+1) 6
'06/'07 40 (+2) 10 2 - - - - - 42 (+2) 10
'05/'06 11 (+4) 2 - - - - - - 11 (+4) 2
TOTAL 104 (+21) 20 6 (+2) - 1 (+1) - 2 (+1) 1 113 (+25) 21


TRANSFER INFORMATION:

DATE IN/OUT TRANSFER DETAIL
19 JAN 2006 IN Sheffield Wednesday
(unattached)
29 JAN 2010 OUT Grimsby Town
Free transfer


full name

Lee Anthony Peacock


 SCOTLAND
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date of birth
9 October 1976


           
             
           
             
             
             

usual positions
centre forward
central midfield

youth career
Carlisle United

senior career
Carlisle United
Mansfield Town
Manchester City
Bristol City
Sheffield Wednesday
SWINDON TOWN
Grimsby Town
Havant & Waterlooville
Eastleigh
PLAYER
youth coach
player-youth coach
head of youth and development

AFC Portchester
player

SWINDON TOWN
academy head of coaching

website links
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