Trevor Peake
If Trevor Peake doesn’t make the final team, I’ll cry. I didn’t even see him play for City, but I’ve seen plenty since, videos, his performances for Luton Town and Coventry City. In my earliest football memories I saw my Dad beam with pride as ‘one of our own’ played in the 1987 FA Cup Final. He did well too, Coventry won that 3-2.
Peake first walked the Sincil Bank turf in our record-breaking 1975/76 season, although at the time he was wearing the colours of FA Cup opponents Nuneaton Borough. He had a tough afternoon as City won 6-0, but he caught enough people’s attention to stick in the memory. In 1979, Colin Murphy paid £15,000 for him, not a small sum by any stretch of the imagination.
It was money well spent, over the next four seasons he barely missed a game as Murph’s side did everything but earn promotion to the second tier. Along with Steve Thompson they formed a terrifying barrier that was rarely breached. In his first two seasons at the club he was warded Player of the Year, as well as being named in the PFA Team of the Year for Division Four in 1980/81.
That feat was repeated in his final season, 1982/83 and with such national recognition came the obvious interest from above. Coventry City gave us a healthy return on the £15,000 investment, s figure he’d paid back in performances anyway. £100,000 took him to the top flight of English football and eventually, a Wembley final.
In all Peake played 171 league games for City, not one of them drawing a bad review if those who saw him are to be believed. Of all the names on this list, this is the one that I imagine unanimously will take up on of the places. My only wish is to have seen him in that classic Adidas Lincoln shirt, bang on form for a rampaging Lincoln and a side that even now, fans rave about.
No Terry Cooper? Shocking!!
As talented as Paul Morgan was – and he’s my choice – I do recall how comically bad he was at knocking the ball forwards from the back!
He rarely made a mistake though and always had the pace and skill to recover if he did.
Jamie McCombe was every bit as good for us as McAuley & Morgan.
I can’t vote for Morgan, as we never saw him in a traditional back four. He was always in the sweeper role, mopping up what the two giants in front of him didn’t.
I’ve voted for the duo that I think complement each other the best, Austin for his pace & power & Raggett for his aerial prowess.
Peake and Thomson were the best pairing I’ve seen in an Imps team but you can’t ignore McAuley for the time he has lasted in the top league. So Peake and McAuley for me.
Not sure if I am just biased against Morgan because the journalist prior to Curtis always referred to him as Baresi, and although he was decent he was never that good. My personal feeling is that he is thought of as better than he was because he didn’t just hoof it, but I don’t think he did enough of the key stuff well. Unlike McCauley and McCombe he also didn’t play at a higher level after
I’ll vote for Peake, given he was brilliant, but also because he told me to get off the pitch on my third lap of the centre circle as an over-keen, seven-year-old mascot. Happy memories!