An Interview with…Peter Kitchen
Your career started at Doncaster Rovers where you scored within two minutes of your first team debut. What do you remember of your debut?
I signed in July 1970 (1970/71 season) and had to wait until November 1970 for my debut. I had only played in the reserves, but Lawrie McMenemy called me into his office after training on Monday morning and told me I had been doing well and scoring regularly and I would be playing at Shrewsbury away on the Tuesday night.
We travelled down on the coach on the day and I remember being very nervous, day-dreaming about the game all the way and hardly spoke to anyone.
We hadn’t won away from home so far that season and we were struggling in what is now League One. I can’t recall much about the game, only that very early in the game, a ball was knocked forward by our right-back Ian Branfoot, (later to become a well known Manager himself ) from about the halfway line. It was curling in towards the edge of the penalty box, but was too far ahead of my strike partner John Regan. I was running in behind him and hit it first time into the left hand corner of the goal from about 10 yards. We went on to win this game 3-0 and record our first away win. Afterwards, I found out the goal I scored was after only 90 seconds. After the game, the Chairman and Lawrie were so pleased that they decided that we should stay overnight and booked a local hotel.
Lawrie McMenemy was your manager at Belle Vue and he was the one who spotted you at a young age. He went on and had quite a career in management. What was he like in those early days?
He had been in the Coldstream Guards before coming into Football with a background as a Physical Instructor. McMenemy was a very tall and imposing figure who commanded respect by his formal but straight-forward approach. He wasn’t so tactically aware in terms of how we should play. He was strict with the younger players but more relaxed with the senior pro’s.
McMenemy was very demanding in terms of physical fitness and we did a lot of physical training and running and played a lot of long-ball football. He was a great motivator and a lot of the younger players were intimidated by him, not by him shouting or any specific character traits, more by his imposing nature.
I scored a week later in my home debut versus Swansea City after only 95 seconds and had a few more first team games, but we were struggling so McMenemy left me out. The results weren’t good and we were getting closer to the bottom of the league.
After missing a few weeks, we were due to play Aston Villa who were top of the league and we were playing them at home.
I remember that he called me in to his office again after training on Tuesday morning and said “You’re playing tonight bonny lad against Villa, but if you’re frightened or scared, tell me now and I won’t pick you”.
I replied that I was ready to play and that night we beat Villa 2-1 in front of about 8,000 fans and I scored the winner.
Unfortunately, Lawrie got sacked at the end of the season because we were relegated, which was a blow to my career as I was just establishing myself , playing 13 games that season and scoring 6 goals in a struggling side, but now had to start all over again.
Doncaster were a struggling Fourth Division side when you played there, but you did have a big FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield in 1974. In a bit of a shock, Donny drew 2-2 in the first game and you scored one of the goals before losing the replay. What are your memories of playing against Bill Shankly’s giants?
Maurice Setters took over the side for the season 1971/72 and I had to try and establish myself again. Maurice brought in several other young players and I got pushed down the pecking order so only played about six games that season for Rovers and were now in the Fourth Division (what is now League Two).
I had to work very hard to revive my career and gradually started to get more games and score more goals in 1972/73 season, when I think I scored about 15, however we were struggling in the league and just managed to miss having to apply for re-election that season.
The following season 1973/74, we were struggling again, but we had a couple of wins in the League and FA Cups. I was starting to gain confidence, even though I never got on with Maurice, or liked his management style and he used to often play me wide and out of position.
We were bottom of the Fourth Division and we drew Liverpool, who were top of the First Division in the Third Round of the FA cup at Anfield in January 1974. It proved to be a very memorable day.
No one expected us to get anything from this match, so Match of the day TV Cameras, opted to cover Blackburn vs Everton (it ended as a 0-0 draw) instead of our game.
We had some good young players in this team, (myself, Mike Elwiss, Brendan O’Callaghan, Terry Curran) but we were a poor team as a group. We went behind to a Kevin Keegan goal early in the game and everyone expected us to get thrashed, but we worked hard and fought for every ball and gradually got ourselves back into the game.
I scored an equaliser and then Brendan scored a second goal to give us a 2-1 lead lead at half-time and we got a standing ovation from the Liverpool crowd as we came off the Anfield pitch.
Keegan scored an equaliser in the second half and we were camped in our own half, but we held out for a draw. In the last minute I was chasing a long hopeful ball over the top and as Emlyn Hughes and Ray Clemence hesitated on the edge of the box, I toe-poked the ball over the Clemence’s head. It hit the top of the crossbar, bouncing twice and came back in to play which Emelyn managed to kick clear.
After the game, Shanks said that we did brilliantly, but our goals were “a gift from the gods”.
We lost the replay 2-0 at Belle Vue in front of a crowd of 22,000. The game was played during the Miner’s Strike and the three day working week with incessant power cuts under the Ted Heath Tory Government.
With no floodlights, the game had to be played on the Tuesday afternoon. Most of the kids attending that day had bunked off school as it was such a massive match for the town. Liverpool went on to win the cup, beating Newcastle 3-0 in the final and after the game, Keegan said the hardest game they had en route to the final was against Doncaster Rovers.
I should add here that after Maurice got sacked not long after this game, the new Manager appointed was Stan Anderson, who had just come back from coaching AEK Athens and changed the style of play from Maurice’s ‘Kick, Bollock and Bite’ style to a passing game with the ball on the floor, which suited my style of play as a skilful player with good close control.
I went on to score 25 + goals for three consecutive seasons and was selected in the PFA Division Four Select team on two occasions.
I needed to move to a higher league however, and had to push for a move in my final season there.
I came to the O’s and agreed terms to sign for a reported £45,000 fee, but hadn’t penned a contract after two visits to London. When I came back from London on the third occasion and after shaking hands with the O’s Chairman and Manager and agreeing to sign, I got a call from Stan Anderson asking if I had signed for the O’s and he told me that another club had bid for me and matched the fee. When I asked who it was, he said Keith Burkinshaw of Tottenham Hotspur.
I was gutted but having shaken hands on the deal, I could not go back on my word. Yes, they are old-fashioned values, but that’s how it was in those days, your word was your bond and we had no agents in those days.
You then left Rovers and signed for Orient in the summer of 1977. Your first season there was quite eventful with you finishing the club’s top goalscorer and reaching the FA Cup Semi Final;. This team went down in Orient’s club history. What are your memories of this team?
I had an exceptional first season at the O’s, although like Doncaster, we had some good players but not a good team.
We had a mix of young players (Glenn Roeder, Tony Grealish, John Chiedozie) who came through the youth system at the O’s and experienced players several of whom had come from Crystal Palace, (John Jackson, Phil Hoadley, Bill Roffey and David Payne) with myself, Joe Mayo and Alan Glover brought in from outside.
Unfortunately for me, the Manager who had signed me, George Petchey was sacked after only two games into the season and replaced by Jimmy Bloomfield.
It was a very unsettling start to my season at the O’s. We struggled for much of that season and although things were going well for me on the pitch, I didn’t get on particularly well with Jimmy and didn’t agree with his tactics. But I was determined to prove I could score goals at a higher level and did just that, ending the season with 29 goals & top scorer in what is now the Championship.
I won the Daily Mirror and Evening Standard Footballer of the month awards for January and March 1978 and Orient’s Player of the Year.
In the league, we struggled as a team and didn’t create many chances, so to score 29 goals was a major achievement . We tended to draw our home games and lose by the odd goal away, which resulted in us dropping into the relegation places and having to win away at Cardiff City in the last match of the season. Fortunately we won the game 1-0, with me scoring the only goal That win shot us up to 14th in the table with Blackpool taking our place and going down.
The Cup run gained national attention as Orient beat Norwich City, Chelsea and Middlesbrough of the First Division before you lost to Arsenal in the Semi Finals. What are your memories of that Cup run?
We had a wonderful cup run to the semi finals, with me scoring seven goals en route to the Semi’s with at least one goal in every round and Joe Mayo scored the other two cup goals.
We knocked out three First Division teams, all after replays, so the wins weren’t flukes and we deserved to go through each time.
We drew 1-1 at home with Norwich City in the Third Round but won the replay 1-0 away at Carrow Road.
The hardest game was against Blackburn Rovers at home in the Fourth round. They played us off the park for 70 minutes and we were losing 1-0, but then we pushed up an extra attacker and I scored an equaliser.
Joe then scored our second and I scored again and we won 3-1.
We drew 0-0 at Brisbane Road against Chelsea in the Fifth Round with the game being televised. The ground was so full that a wall collapsed, fortunately no one was hurt.
In the replay at Stamford Bridge, we were losing 1-0 at half-time, with Bill Roffey scoring an own goal , but in the second half we came back from the dead and I scored both of our goals to win 2-1.
In the Sixth Round we drew Middlesborough away and again we had to dig in and fought very hard to get a 0-0 draw, with our keeper John Jackson having a blinder and our defence were magnificent. I scored a stunning goal early in the game in the replay at Brisbane Road and Joe scored a second and Middlesborough were stunned.
In the second half they came at us and threw everything forward but we held out to go through to the Semi’s. (These games are on YouTube, Chelsea v Orient Feb 27th 1978 and Orient v Middlesborough March 14th 1978 and well worth a watch).
Unfortunately, the Semi’s were an anti climax for all of us and we never really did ourselves justice. Jimmy changed our formation, from a 3-5-2 formation with a wide player on the right to a 4-3-3 system, leaving out winger Kevin Godfrey. We had no width or other attacking options and we hardly troubled Arsenal. It was very disappointing after what we had done in the earlier rounds, but nonetheless, it was a wonderful achievement for the Club and team.
A year after the famous Cup run, you moved across the capital to Fulham but you missed a large chunk of your time there due to injuries. Was this the most frustrating time in your career?
It was a very frustrating time for me, because I was their record signing and I had scored five goals in my first 17 games at the end of the 1978/79 season so I was expecting to do well the 1979/80 season.
Apart from a minor injury early the following pre-season, I made a full recovery, so my lack of game time wasn’t because of injury, it was because of ‘a situation’ which developed between myself and Manager Bobby Campbell. This then became personal and resulted in me being completely left out of his team.
Gordon Davies came into the team and did very well and then I couldn’t get back in the team. It was personal from Bobby, because in the reserves I scored about 35 goals that season, but he wouldn’t select me even though Fulham were bottom of the league for much of the season. I believe that he deliberately put about the rumours that I was injured to avoid any awkward questions why the clubs record signing wasn’t playing even though the team were doing so badly, as it just wasn’t true.
It was a different time in those days, so what we said to the press was very much suppressed. The personal vendetta against me was aptly demonstrated when in one week, I played three reserve games against First Division sides reserves. They were West Ham United, QPR and Arsenal and I scored two hat-tricks and a brace against strong reserve teams with several First Division players in all these teams. Eight goals in a week and I couldn’t even get on the subs bench!
I was selected for the last game of the season away against Shrewsbury (because I was being watched by Cardiff City) and I scored our goal in a 4-1 defeat. Fulham were relegated that season yet I played in only one first-team game and about three as a substitute, yet scoring 35 goals in the reserves.
You then joined Cardiff City spending two years at Ninian Park before a short spell at Happy Valley in Hong Kong. How did that move come about?
I moved to Cardiff to get away from Fulham and saw this as a chance to make a fresh start. I had a very good first season at Cardiff City, scoring 19 goals and ending the season as top scorer.
However in my second season, the club were in financial difficulties and they got rid of their Assistant Coach, Brian Harris (ex-Everton) who was the football brains behind the team and then sacked Manager Richie Morgan as well.
They had Tony Book in for a while but he didn’t want the job, so they promoted two of the Assistant Coaches. That was bound to fail, so they then brought in Graham Williams, ex-West Bromwich Albion but he failed as well. Finally they brought in Len Ashurst, for the last two months of the season but he couldn’t prevent the club from being relegated.
I had another year of my contract left, but I negotiated a Free Transfer by relinquishing the third year of my contract and a loyalty bonus , so I could find a club but with no transfer fee.
I had numerous offers in England and Europe, but there was little money around at the time following the demise of Bristol City in the 1981/2 season and the banks had put a halt on club overdrafts.
I decided on a move to Hong Kong, which was the most lucrative and a more interesting opportunity and I enjoyed about five months, but after an altercation with the Chinese coach, I left in December and rejoined the O’s who were struggling in the Third Division.
After your brief stay in Hong Kong, you re-joined Leyton Orient before a move to the Major Indoor Soccer League in the US for Las Vegas Americans. What was it like playing football indoors?
I spent 18 months at the O’s and although it wasn’t as headline grabbing as my early spell, my signing saved the club from relegation in the 1982-83 season. When I arrived back, the O’s were bottom of the Third Division, they had not won for months and were 12 points adrift of the club second from bottom.
Whilst I was waiting for my International clearance, I watched the team lose 5-1 at home to Oxford United. I trained for a week with the team and signed that week with Ken Knighton the Manager. I played my first game back at home against Preston NE on Friday night and scored the winner three minutes from time to win 2 -1. We then went on a further five match winning run and climbed out of the relegation places, before I broke my toe against Portsmouth.
I then missed several games and the team dropped back into the bottom four. When I returned for the last three or four games, we picked up a few more points and won the last game at home 4-1 against Sheffield United to stay in the division.
It was a major achievement and one of the most memorable achievements of my career. Ken Knighton was sacked at the end of the season and his Assitant Frank Clark was made the Manager.
The team did better the following season (1983/84) and we finished mid-table in the Third Division but I wasn’t offered a new contract, even though I ended the season as top scorer with 16 goals in 29 games.
I decide to try a stint in the USA, playing Indoor Soccer for Las Vegas Americans, a new franchise which had moved down from Memphis.
I enjoyed the stay in Vegas, but the football was frantic and not particularly enjoyable. It was very much like Ice Hockey where the players barged into each other on every occasion and there was no subtlety in the play, so I returned to the UK in February 1985 and had short stays with Chester & Dagenham, before retiring in June 1985.
You then ended your playing career at the age of 33 after playing for Dagenham and Chester City. Was it tough to finally retire from the game?
I didn’t enjoy the standard of football at Chester or Dagenham and was offered a coaching role at Chester by the Interim Manger Mike Speight , a player who had enjoyed a long career at Sheffield United. I knew him quite well from my days at Doncaster.
However Mike’s tenure was on a caretaker basis and I also didn’t want to move back up north permanently, so declined the opportunity and left Chester and signed for Dagenham. After playing until the end of the season with Dagenham, I knew it was time to call it a day as I hadn’t been enjoying my football for the last couple of years and I was disillusioned with football, but mainly with the people in the game.
I didn’t find it hard to retire at the time because of the above mentioned disillusionment, but generally, it is a very difficult time for any professional player. Knowing that your career has ended and not knowing what you are going to do, but still with all the financial pressures of mortgages and families and having to start a career again.
I hadn’t become a professional until I was 18 and after I had left school with three A-Levels and 10 O-Levels, so I had a very good education to fall back on, although I had no ‘normal work’ experience or environment.
I took a job as a Sports development officer at Harlow council in 1985 and whilst there I went back to college and studied for a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management and Administration (DMS) which I attained in 1987. I then became Manager of a Leisure Centre in the Sevenoaks area, progressing to managing larger centres as Contracts Manager, before becoming Operations Director of a Leisure Management company in 2004. After a 21 year career in Sport and Leisure Management., I took early retirement on 2009 aged 57.
I played for a number of amateur & charity football teams for many years, finally retiring from playing at the age of 53 . These included the TV Commentators team for 15 years, The Corinthian casuals Vets team for a similar length of time and also Rod Stewart’s Vagabonds XI for five or six years. I also coached on a part-time basis for Wimbledon when they were in the Premier League as Manager of their Under 13’s, 14’s and 15’s for ten years.
All this and much more is in my Book, ‘The Goal Gourmet, The Peter Kitchen story’ by Neil Kaufman and is available on Amazon and from the club stores at Leyton Orient and Doncaster Rovers.
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