| A Safe Pair of Hands  By
David Silver
In 1990 GERRY PEYTON went to the World Cup as second-choice goalkeeper
to Packie Bonner. After a career playing for a host of clubs Peyton turned
his hand to coaching and now advises Arsenal’s Jans Lehmann amongst
others. David Silver caught up with him to find out why he loves the game
so much.
After a lifetime in football Gerry Peyton, the former Republic of Ireland and
Everton shot-stopper, remains as enthusiastic and hungry to succeed as
ever.
Capped 33 times for his country Peyton has used all the knowledge he picked
up when deputising for Packie Bonner and Neville Southall at Goodison
Park to good effect.
Now goalkeeping coach at Arsenal Peyton recalls his upbringing in Birmingham.
With a father from Galway and mother from neighbouring Mayo a young Gerry
was submerged into the GAA scene in Warwickshire and represented the county’s
Gaelic football sides on a number of occasions.
After playing as an apprentice at Aston Villa Gerry was released and signed
for non-league Atherstone Town. Fortunately the manager was former England
keeper Gil Merrick who quickly spotted Gerry’s potential.
Merrick recommended him to Burnley and at 19 Gerry signed for the First
Division side. Gerry recalls his debut - against a Liverpool side including
Toshack, Keegan and Heighway - which ended in a 0-0 draw.
At the age of 20 Gerry signed for Fulham and spent 10 years at Craven
Cottage playing alongside legends such as George Best and Bobby Moore.
It was while at Fulham that Gerry earned the first of his 33 Ireland caps.
Bobby Moore persuaded Gerry to join Southend United on loan when his contract
at Fulham had ended.
From Southend Gerry moved round the coast to Bournemouth where the manager
was a youthful Harry Redknapp. He remains the Cherries most-capped player.
Gerry recalls the night that Bournemouth won promotion to the old Second
Division. Ten minutes from the end of the match he went to the crowd to
retrieve the ball. A fan asked him for his jersey and Gerry said he could
have it at the end of the game. The next thing he knew the jersey was
pulled over his head and had disappeared. Gerry played the last 10 minutes
of that game topless. He thinks that nowadays he would have ended up in
hot water.
Having signed Gerry on a free transfer Bournemouth sold him to Everton
for £80,000. He spent two seasons as understudy to Welsh international
Neville Southall who never missed a game. Despite never playing for the
first team Peyton amazingly picked up two Irish caps while with the club.
Following brief spells at Bolton, Brentford and Chelsea, Gerry again teamed
up with Harry Redknapp at West Ham where he finished his career as cover
for Ludek Miklosko.
Gerry recounts an extraordinary story about the great Czech keeper. In
the mid-1980s Gerry played for the Republic of Ireland in a tournament
against Iceland and the Czechoslovakia.
After beating the Czechs 2-0 he was approached by a skinny teenager who
showed him a pair of thin goalkeeping gloves which were full of holes.
The boy pointed to Gerry’s gloves, which after a moment’s
hesitation he took off and gave to him. The boy ran off delighted. Ten
years later when Gerry arrived at West Ham he was greeted enthusiastically
by Miklosko who revealed that he was that very same boy. Gerry’s
kindness had helped to inspire a distinguished career.
At the age of 19 Gerry was picked for the England Under-21s. Typically
he phoned his father to tell him the news straightaway. Mr Peyton senior
gave his congratulations but expressed his desire that Gerry played for
Ireland. Peyton accepted his father’s choice and the rest is history.
Gerry’s 33 caps for Ireland began at the age of just 20 against
Spain when he came on as a second-half substitute for Mike Keane. He played
under Johnny Giles, Alan Kelly, Eoin Hand and was part of the great revolution
under Jack Charlton. Gerry’s international career spanned some 16
years which saw him travel to the European Championships in 1988 and the
World Cup in Italy in 1990. Long spells on the bench as cover for Packie
Bonner gave Gerry the opportunity to study great players, outfield ones
as well as goalkeepers.
Gerry’s attention to detail helped when he decided to devote his
future to coaching goalkeepers. Jack Charlton, a good friend still, recommended
him to contacts in Japan and he learned his craft there at two different
clubs with considerable success.
Shortly after signing for his second club, Vissel Kobe, Gerry moved into
a new apartment then flew to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his family.
Less than a week later, the great Japanese earthquake des-
troyed the apartment along with thousand of other homes. Amid the devastation
Gerry and manager Stuart Baxter dedicated themselves to gaining promotion
to the J League as a way of bringing hope to the people of the town and
of course they were successful.
It was in Japan that Gerry first met Arsene Wenger also coaching there
at the time. He met Wenger again when his new club, AIK Solna of Sweden,
met Arsenal in the Champions League. Again the quality of the goalkeeping
did not escape the Frenchman’s keen eye. Gerry moved to Fulham working
with Jean Tigana.
When Bob Wilson retired as goalkeeping coach his successor was an obvious
choice for Arsene Wenger. Gerry was approached and has enjoyed three incredibly
successful years in North London inspiring Jens Lehmann for the unbeaten
season of 2003-4 and to the titles of best keeper in the Champions League
last season and in this summer’s World Cup in Germany.
Looking back on a long and varied career Peyton says that he knew from
a young age that he wanted to be a footballer and a goalkeeper. His unique
career has earned him a host of friends and admirers among fellow professionals
and football fans. He has reached the pinnacle both as player and coach.
Does he harbour any greater ambitions? Just one — he would like
the chance to one day manage Ireland.
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