Gavin Keith Peacock (born 18 November 1967) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was midfielder and

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

from 1984 until 2002, notably playing in the Premier League for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and Chelsea. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Queens Park Rangers, Gillingham,

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

and Charlton Athletic. He then worked in the media as a

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

, notably for BBC Sport, before in September 2008 he relocated to Canada to study theology with a view to becoming a Christian minister.

Early life

Peacock comes from a footballing family; his father

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

played for Charlton. Though Peacock followed Charlton Athletic as a child, he maintained a soft spot for Newcastle United. His father's side of the family are from North East England, they followed

and Peacock in his youth owned Newcastle replica shirts; he also regularly visited

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

on the Peacock family holidays. Peacock lived in

Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...

in the London Borough of Bexley, and attended

Bexley Grammar School Bexley Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school with academy status in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley, UK. It takes boys and girls aged 11–18 who have passed the eleven plus exam. History Founded in 1955, Bexley Grammar ...

in nearby Welling as a child. He played schoolboy international football for England.

Playing career

Peacock started his career at Queens Park Rangers, making 17 appearances in the First Division and scoring once before he moved to Third Division Gillingham in October 1987 in a move which was started by his father,

, Gillingham's manager. Peacock joined on loan initially, but signed permanently for £40,000 in December 1987. Shortly after joining, his father was sacked by the club but Gavin remained on as a player until after their relegation to the Fourth Division in 1989. He was named as the Kent side's Young Player of the Year award in his first season and then in the relegation season of 1988-89 his displays saw him recognised by the supporters who voted him as Player of the Year. He was signed by

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

for

in a £250,000 deal on 16 August 1989, but was unable to prevent their relegation to the Third Division that season. He began the 1990–91 season still at Bournemouth, but on 30 November 1990 he made the move back to the Second Division when Jim Smith paid Bournemouth £275,000 to take Peacock to Newcastle United. Peacock himself was not the first in the family to be on the books of Newcastle, his father's cousin was at

in the 1950s, though he did not make a first team debut. Peacock stated that his family lineage and connection to the North East was a big draw in him signing for Newcastle United when the opportunity came up with an offer from Jim Smith, the then manager of Newcastle. The ''Magpies'' were in the Second Division at the time and were founder members of the new Division One on the creation of the new

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in 1992, and in the 1992–93 season he helped them win the Division One title. He was Newcastle United's top scorer in 1991–92 with 16 goals and one of their best scorers in the promotion season with 12 goals. He was sold to Chelsea for £1.5million soon afterwards, being one of new player-manager Glenn Hoddle's first signings for the

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

side. Peacock famously scored both home and away for Chelsea in 1–0 victories over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the 1993–94 season. Both sides met again in the FA Cup Final, and with the score at 0–0 just before half time, Peacock hit the crossbar from 25 yards and missed a golden opportunity to gain silverware. Manchester United went on to win the final 4–0 and achieve the double. Peacock finished joint top scorer that season with 14 goals from midfield. He helped them reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1995 and the FA Cup semi finals in 1996. Peacock returned to Queens Park Rangers in 1996, having lost his place in the Chelsea team to new signing Roberto Di Matteo. He made a brief return to the Premier League in 2001 after going on loan to Charlton Athletic in 2001, where his father was now assistant manager. Peacock returned to QPR for the 2001–02 season, at the end of which he retired, having made 196 appearances in total for the club. By this stage, however, they were in Division Two. In total he scored more than 100 goals in over 540 league appearances.

Media career

After retiring, Peacock worked with the BBC, regularly appearing as a pundit on '' Football Focus'', ''

Score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian m ...

'', '' Match of the Day'', '' Match of the Day 2'',

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

's comedy game show '' Fighting Talk'' and the BBC Radio 4 comedy show ''One''. He also hosted a weekly podcast on the official Chelsea website.

Personal life

Married to Amanda since 1989, the couple have two children: son, Jake (b. 1993), and daughter, Ava (b. 1996). They had a house in Bexley, Kent, before Peacock started his theological studies, and a small holiday home in Canada in the Rocky Mountains. He started attending the local Methodist church at the age of 18 and soon afterwards became a Christian. Near the end of his career and after he retired he began preaching in his local church St Michaels and All Angels in Wilmington. He presented a feature on '' Football Focus'' about faith in the game in December 2006. He also presented ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

'' on 10 February 2008, at the same time as his coverage of the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

final. Having studied theology from September 2006 at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, after completing his punditry duties at Euro 2008, he moved to Canada for a three-year masters course in divinity at Ambrose Seminary. with the intention of becoming a

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. He is currently a pastor at Calvary Grace Church in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. In April 2016 he co-authored ''The Grand Design'', a book presenting a complementarian view of gender roles. He published his autobiography, A Greater Glory, in May 2021.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1992–93 First Division

Selected publications

* ''A Greater Glory: From Pitch to Pulpit'', Gavin Peacock, 2021, Christian Focus Publications, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Gavin 1967 births Living people Footballers from Eltham English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Newcastle United F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Premier League players English Christians Alumni of Ridley Hall, Cambridge People educated at Bexley Grammar School English association football commentators English expatriates in Canada