Peter Litchfield (born 27 July 1956) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He started his career with

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

and played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

. His sons

Max Litchfield Max Robert Litchfield (born 4 March 1995) is a British competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain at three Olympics, and the LEN European Aquatics Championships. He also swam for England in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He competes interna ...

and Joe Litchfield are international swimmers.

Career

Born in 1956 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, Litchfield started his career as a junior player with Manchester City and made three reserve appearances before being released at the end of the 1976–1977 season. He turned down a move to Stockport County and returned to City in September 1977 to play for the juniors on a monthly basis following an injury to another young keeper, Tony Armstrong.Manchester City v Bristol City football programme, 24 September 1977, p20 Later he moved on to local non-league side

. In January 1979, he was signed by

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

-side

for £3,000. He waited two years to replace first-choice goalkeeper Roy Tunks for his Preston debut, which came on 28 February 1981 against Chelsea, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a 1–0 victory and earning ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' newspaper's man of the match award. His prize was a £1,000 charity cheque, which he donated to a

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

cause, in memory of former Preston player Mel Holden, who had died from the disease. He made another two appearances in the Second Division, as the club were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

in the 1980–81 season, and went on to play a total of 107 league appearances with Preston, winning the club's

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

in the 1983–84 season. His Preston career ended with relegation to the Fourth Division. In June 1985, he joined

on a free transfer, following their promotion into the Second Division. He replaced

Eric McManus Eric McManus (born 14 November 1950) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Coleraine, Coventry City, Notts County, Stoke City, Lincoln City, Bradford City, Middlesbrough, Peterborough United, Tranmere Rovers and Boston United. ...

, who had been injured in pre-season. After making his debut on 17 August 1985 in a 2–1 victory at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, he went on to be an ever-present in his first season with City. He played another 39 games the following season, but in June 1987, City signed Paul Tomlinson from

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

for a club record fee of £47,500. Litchfield played only five more league games for City, and following a loan spell with

in October 1988, he joined

in June 1989 as competition for

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all co ...

. Litchfield played 25 league games for Scunthorpe in the Fourth Division but a knee problem limited his appearances during the 1990–91 season, which brought about his retirement at the age of 34.

Honours

Individual honours * Preston North End player of the season: 1983–84

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litchfield, Peter 1956 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Droylsden F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Manchester City F.C. players