Peyton: Noel

1958-1963 (Player Details)

Inside Forward

Born: Dublin, Republic of Ireland: 04-12-1935

Debut: v Bolton Wanderers (a): 01-02-1958

5’5” 10 st 0lb (1958)

Peyton was with Shamrock Rovers for five seasons before joining Leeds for £5,000 in January 1958. With Rovers he won plenty of domestic honours and made his full Republic of Ireland debut against World Cup holders, West Germany, in Dublin in November 1956, when the Irish recorded a famous victory by 3-0. After a quiet start he came into the picture much more in the second half as he gathered confidence and finished the game strongly as one of the stars of the game. He also played twice in European competition for Rovers. Eire International Peyton was in and out of the Leeds team during his stay at Elland Road. He won five more caps at Leeds, but his time there was not in a successful period as the club struggled to come to grips with the loss of John Charles. He did continue to represent the Republic and his second cap in May 1960 saw another famous Irish victory as they triumphed 1-0 over the West Germans in Dusseldorf. This success was followed by his only two failures in the green shirt as he replaced the injured Noel Cantwell just before half time in a 4-1 defeat by Sweden in Malmo and when they were beaten 3-2 at Dalymount Park by Wales, with Leeds having three players on duty for the Republic as Peter Fitzgerald and Johnny Giles as well Peyton all failed to impress. On signing he went straight into the Leeds team in a 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers on the usual Burnden Park quagmire, a game which also saw the debut and only first-team game of goalkeeper Willie Nimmo. Peyton was more successful, establishing himself in the United team for the rest of that season, as United slumped to seventeenth in the First Division. The arrival of Irish International outside-right Billy Humphries saw Chris Crowe move into Peyton’s inside-right berth and Peyton found himself with stiff opposition from George O’Brien and Bobby Forrest for the remaining inside-forward berth. However all three were out of favour following the arrival of Don Revie from Sunderland and he featured in only eight games in that 1958-59 season as United struggled to fifteenth in the League. The 1959-60 season saw the departure of O’Brien and Forrest and the arrival of Bobby Cameron and there were twenty appearances as United suffered relegation. With Revie or Bremner in the inside right spot, Peyton filled the inside left spot twenty-three times, becoming a regular after Revie concentrated on the managerial aspect of his new position. 1961-62 again found Peyton in favour missing only five League games as United dropped to an all-time low of nineteenth in the Second Division, narrowly avoiding relegation. Revie had drafted in several experienced old campaigners as he was confronted with the prospect of relegation, Bobby Collins being the most important of these. Peyton found himself once more on the outer as Revie recruited key players such as Jim Storrie and started to blood his youngsters as he put together a team capable of obtaining promotion in 1962-63 but did not quite make it as United finished fifth and Peyton had to be comtent with just six appearances at outside and inside-right. He was still picked for the Republic for his final two games at international level. The first in September 1962, against Iceland in Reykavik as they drew 1-1 to gain passage in a Eurpean Cup qualifier and then in June 1963 he was part of the team, along with Johnny Giles, that beat Scotland 1-0 in Dublin in another shock result, but was replaced by Ambrose Fogarty just before half-time. It came as little surprise when a £4,000 transfer took him to York City in July 1963. He had two seasons there making thirty-seven appearances and scoring twice. In May 1965 he became player-manager of Barnstaple Town, and then played for St Patrick’s Athletic. Approaching the veteran stage, he played for the League of Ireland against the Italian League, adding to his five League of Ireland appearances he had made while at Shamrock Rovers. He later worked part-time at William Hill in Bradford.