Peter Shreeves (born 30 November 1940) is a Welsh former football player, manager and coach.

Career

Shreeves was born in Neath in South Wales where his mother had been evacuated to during the early stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but was brought up in Islington, London. He began his career with non-league Finchley from where he joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

in January 1959. He made over 100 league appearances for Reading over the next seven years, but his professional career was curtailed by a broken leg. He left Reading in 1966 to join Southern League club

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

. In the summer of 1969, Shreeves joined Wimbledon where he remained until taking up a coaching post at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in 1974. Later that year he joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

as youth coach. In 1977, Tottenham manager

Keith Burkinshaw Harry Keith Burkinshaw (born 23 June 1935) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. He is one of the most successful managers of Tottenham Hotspur, winning 3 major trophies for the club as manager there. Playing career ...

promoted him to manager of the reserve team, and then as his assistant in 1980. In June 1984, Shreeves was promoted to the manager's seat after Burkinshaw's resignation and took Spurs to third place in the league at the end of his first season as manager. This would normally have earned them a

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 ...

place, but the ban on English clubs in European competition began at this time due to the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by L ...

. Tottenham finished 10th the following season and Shreeves was sacked in favour of

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ...

in March 1986. In August that year Shreeves joined the coaching staff at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and in December 1988 was made assistant manager after

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player foll ...

had been appointed as player-manager. He then worked as assistant to Steve Perryman at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

before working as

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

assistant manager under Terry Yorath. Shreeves returned to Tottenham as manager in July 1991 after

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

had moved upstairs to become Chief Executive. Tottenham had won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

under Venables, but Shreeves was sacked after just one season with Tottenham finishing 15th in the league. From 1993 to 1996 he was assistant manager at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

before

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

became

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

manager and

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...

did not include Shreeves in his management team. Shreeves then became assistant manager to David Pleat at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, and worked alongside subsequent manager

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

. He remained for a short while under the next manager, Danny Wilson, but left to re-join Atkinson at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, where the duo were unable to prevent the club from being relegated. Shreeves acted as interim manager of the club for a short while following Atkinson's retirement at the end of the season, but left upon the arrival of

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

as manager. He was out of work until March 2000, when he was asked to return to Sheffield Wednesday as caretaker manager after Danny Wilson was sacked. The Owls were struggling at the bottom of the Premiership, and despite managing a few decent results, Shreeves was unable to prevent relegation. He did not get the manager's job on a permanent basis, but was retained as assistant manager to

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a ...

, and got the job permanently when Jewell was sacked in February 2001. The Owls were looking in real danger of a second successive relegation at the time, but Shreeves kept them clear, earning the Manager of the Month award for March 2001 in the process. However, he resigned in October 2001 with the Owls struggling in the league. Shreeves made a return to football as manager of Conference side Barnet in February 2002, earning the Conference Manager of the Month Award for his first month in charge. However, he resigned after just one year in charge, with the Bees struggling to make the Conference play-offs. In June 2009 Shreeves was appointed Director of Football at Grays Athletic, and the club appointed him as caretaker manager following Gary Phillips being placed on

gardening leave Garden leave (also known as gardening leave) is the practice whereby an employee leaving a job – having resigned or otherwise had their employment terminated – is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remainin ...

on 10 September, until appointing a new manager on 16 September. On 26 January 2010, Shreeves returned to Barnet as a coach. He left the Bees after

Ian Hendon Ian Michael Hendon (born 5 December 1971) is an English football manager and former player who played as a defender. Playing career Hendon was born in Ilford, Greater London. Primarily a right-back but sometimes deployed in the centre or in ...

was sacked in April 2010.

Name

There is some confusion about his name. His name is variously spelled "Shreeve" and "Shreeves" in different sources, as he mentions in an interview for the 2008 book "The Boys From White Hart Lane" by Martin Cloake and Adam Powley. The Tottenham Hotspur website still gives the spelling "Shreeves". He says "My real name is Shreeve, but over the years I've had so many people getting it wrong that in the end I thought, 'why not – it's Shreeves.' I've looked in the club handbooks and I see that one year my name is spelt with an 's' at the end, the next it is 'Shreeve'.

References