Peter McDonald Leven (born 27 September 1983) is a Scottish 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. A former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

international at U21 level, Leven made over 300 career appearances for clubs including

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. Th ...

, Kilmarnock,

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...

and Chesterfield.

Playing career

Rangers

Leven was a youth player with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and as a 16-year-old appeared on the bench four times for the first team, including an

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...

match. A year later he suffered a serious knee injury in a pre-season game, which ruled him out for two years.

Kilmarnock

Leven signed for Kilmarnock in 2004, he establish himself in the first team. He played 65 times for Kilmarnock and at the end of the 2006–07 season he rejected Kilmarnock's contract offer to head down south.

Chesterfield

Leven joined Chesterfield on a free transfer in 2007. As

Aaron Downes Aaron Terence Downes (born 15 May 1985) is a former Australian soccer player who played as a defender. He is currently assistant manager at Torquay United. Club career Born in Mackay, Queensland and raised in Mudgee, New South Wales, Downes wa ...

made a poor start to the 2007–08 season, Leven was given the captaincy of League Two side Chesterfield. He appeared in 44 of their 49 games in the 2007–08 season. The club turned down numerous offers from Brighton up to £125,000 in the January transfer window. Chesterfield then failed to gain promotion and he turned down a contract extension.

Milton Keynes Dons

Leven joined

in June 2008 on a free transfer. He won the League 1 Sports Writers Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season, his last for MK Dons. At the end of his contract at the Dons, Leven declined to accept the contract extension the club offered him and left as a free agent.

Oxford United

There was interest in Leven from several clubs, including Millwall and Crystal Palace, but in July 2011 he signed a two-year deal with League Two side

. Leven set up both Oxford United goals in their 2–1 away win over arch-rivals Swindon on 21 August 2011, their first victory at the County Ground for 38 years. On 29 October 2011 during a home game against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

, with the game at 1–1, Leven intercepted the ball inside his own half and lobbed the opposition keeper from the halfway line, which turned out to be the winning goal and one of the best ever goals scored at the

Kassam Stadium The Kassam Stadium (also known as Grenoble Road) is the home of Oxford United Football Club, and is named after the ground's owner and former chairman of the football club, Firoz Kassam. The Kassam Stadium currently hosts League One (third t ...

Retirement

While a free agent, Leven was linked with

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, sta ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

, but in August 2014 he signed for non-league Jarrow Roofing BCA. Leven retired soon after joining Roofing at the age of 29, having struggled throughout his career with knee problems.

Coaching career

During 2014-15, Leven worked as an academy coach at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Leven was appointed to a coaching position at Scottish Premier league club Kilmarnock in June 2015 joining the club as Assistant Manager. He left the club on 1 October 2017, when manager

Lee McCulloch Lee Henry McCulloch (born 14 May 1978) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is the first team assistant manager at Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. McCulloch was capped on eighteen occasions by the ...

also departed. In April 2018, joined Belarusian club

Dynamo Brest FC Dynamo Brest ( be, ФК Дынама Брэст, ''FK Dynama Brest''; russian: link=no, ФК Динамо Брест) is a Belarusian professional football club based in Brest. The club plays in the Belarusian Premier League, the top divisio ...

. Initially employed as head of the academy and B team, he was promoted quickly to first-team assistant manager in August 2018, with an emphasis on overseeing tactics and training under Head Coach

Marcel Lička Marcel Lička (born 17 July 1977) is a Czech football coach and former player. He works currently as a manager of FC Orenburg in Russian Premier League. Playing career He made over 171 appearances in the Czech First League and 37 appearances ...

. Brest won the

2019 Belarusian Premier League The 2019 Belarusian Premier League was the 29th season of top-tier football in Belarus. BATE Borisov were the defending champions, having won their 13th consecutive league title and 15th overall last year. Dynamo Brest won the Belarusian P ...

and 2 super cups, only losing 1 game in 36 matches all season and Qualified for

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

football breaking a long period of dominance by

BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (russian: link=no, ФК БАТЭ Борисов, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; be, ФК БАТЭ Барысаў, ''BATE Barysaw,'' ) is a professional Belarusian football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarus ...

. Leven left the club in March 2020. After leaving Belarus, Leven took up a coaching position at Russian club

FC Orenburg FC Orenburg (russian: ФК «Оренбург») is a Russian professional football club from Orenburg, founded in 1976. It will return to the Russian Premier League for the 2022–23 season. History It played professionally as Gazovik from 1 ...

again assisting Lička. Orenburg would gain promotion to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 200 ...

after winning the

relegation play-offs In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Career statistics

All stats from soccerbase :A. The "FA Cup" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in 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 competit ...

and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

and

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

. :C. The "Other" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Honours

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

Sports Writers' Player of the Year: 2011 *

Football Writers' Player of the Year: 2010–11

References

External links

Peter Leven player profile
at mkdons.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leven, Peter 1983 births Living people Footballers from Renfrewshire Scottish footballers Kilmarnock F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers English Football League players Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Association football coaches Scottish expatriates in Belarus Expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Expatriate sports coaches