Peter McDonnell (born 11 June 1953) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

in England, the United States and Hong Kong.

Career

McDonnell was born Kendal,

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, England. He began his professional career in 1973 with Bury, before being signed by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

boss Bill Shankly after one year. He spent four years as reserve goalkeeper at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

, without making a first-team appearance. There were no substitute goalkeepers in domestic football in those days, and so McDonnell's only first-team squad involvement came in

European football UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...

. He was on the bench for the

1977 European Cup Final The 1977 European Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Borussia Mönchengladbach of West Germany on 25 May 1977 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy (the venue was decided in Bern by the UEFA Executive Com ...

, a game which Liverpool won. However, McDonnell's winner's medal was lost after the game, believed by some to have been stolen and given to one of Liverpool's first-team players who had missed the final. Following the arrival of Steve Ogrizovic, he was pushed down to third choice, and left to join

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

in 1978. He spent four years there, before heading to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

in the NASL, then to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

to play for

Hong Kong Rangers Hong Kong Rangers Football Club (), often abbreviated to Rangers, currently known as Biu Chun Rangers due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. They have won the Hong Kong ...

, eventually returning home to represent a number of non-league clubs. He spent some time at Barrow in the Northern Premier League, and later the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

and won the FA Trophy at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in 1990.

Personal life

McDonnell is a referee in the North Lancashire and District Football League and is a Westmorland Football Association council member.

Honours

* European Cup: 1976–77 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1975–76 * FA Charity Shield: 1974,

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

* European Super Cup:

References

External links

Profile at LFCHistory.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonnell, Peter Living people 1953 births Sportspeople from Kendal English men's footballers Footballers from Cumbria Men's association football goalkeepers UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Hong Kong First Division League players Kendal Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Dallas Tornado players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Barrow A.F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English football managers Barrow A.F.C. managers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States