Gary Peters (born November 14, 1954 in Carshalton, Sutton, Greater London) is a professional footballer turned manager. He is currently manager of Shrewsbury Town F.C. in the (English) "League Two" (England’s fourth tier). Carshalton is a place in the London Borough of Sutton. ... Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton. ... Greater London is the top level administrative subdivision covering London, England. ... Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) The Current Laws of the Game (LOTG) The Rec. ... Shrewsbury Town F.C. are an English football team currently playing in Football League Two after being promoted in 2004 from the Nationwide Conference. ... Look up English in Wiktionary, the free dictionary As an adjective, English refers to anything from or pertaining to England. ... Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Coca-Cola Football League 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system. ...

Playing Career

A moderately successful playing career as a defender included spells at Reading (twice), Fulham (twice), Wimbledon and Aldershot. Beginning his career as a right-back at Reading in 1975, Peters won promotion to Division 3 in his first season. After failing to agree terms on a contract extension, Peters left the club in 1978, having made 156 appearances. A Football League tribunal decided upon a transfer fee of £25,000 as Peters moved to Fulham. After 64 appearances for the club, Peters joined Wimbledon, who had spent the previous four years moving between the third and fourth divisions, after being promoted to the football league (Div. 4) in 1977. In his first full season for ‘The Dons’, 1982-83, Peters helped the club to promotion as Fourth Division champions. The following year Wimbledon, with Peters, won promotion again, reaching Division Two. Peters captained Wimbledon on many occasions during his two seasons with the club. He joined Aldershot in 1984, where he played in central defence. He made only 23 appearances for ‘The Shots’ and rejoined Reading for 1985-86. Reading clinched promotion to Division Two that season. Peters made nearly a hundred appearances for ‘The Royals’ in his second spell, where he also coached the youth team. After returning to Fulham, Peters ended his playing career in 1990. In association football (soccer), a defender is a player whose position of play is behind the midfielders and first and foremost provide support to the goalkeeper. ... Reading F.C. is a football team, based in the English town of Reading and currently playing in the Football League Championship. ... Fulham Football Club (FFC) is a football team based in Fulham, London. ... Wimbledon F.C. was the name of a football club that played in south London. ... Aldershot Football Club were the last (at time of writing June 2003) English league club to go out of business during a season. ... Most football games include a position called fullback or full back. ... Until the 2004/05 season, the Football League Third Division was the third-highest division of The Football League and the fourth-highest division in the overall English football league system. ... The Football League logo The Football League (often referred to as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) is a league competition for English football (soccer) clubs (though a few Welsh clubs also take part) containing three divisions (the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two... The captain of an association football team is mentioned in the Laws of the Game purely in connection with the toss of the coin prior to kick-off for choice of ends and to determine who kicks off. ...

Early Management

Following his retirement as player, Peters took on roles as assistant manager at Fulham, Cambridge and Preston North End. After the departure of John Beck in late 1993-94, Peters was promoted to manager at Preston, who at the time were 3rd from bottom of Division Three (tier 4 in England). Under Beck, Preston played the long-ball system, but Peters changed their style to a more attractive passing game. He also changed their fortunes, as Preston won promotion to Division Two in 1996. During his time at Preston, Peters brought in players such as David Beckham (on loan) and Jon Macken. In 1997 he sold Kevin Kilbane for a club record fee of £1.2m. Jon Macken would eventually be sold by the club for another record, £5m, after scoring more than 70 goals for the club. In early 1998, with Preston sinking back towards Division Three, and having finished fifteenth two years running, Peters resigned. David Moyes was promoted to become Preston's next manager. A month later, after considering his future, Peters rejoined Preston as the club's Centre of Excellence Manager. He set about developing the club's Centre of Excellence, nurturing the talents of local 9-16-year-olds. Cambridge United Football Club are a professional football club from Cambridge, England. ... Preston North End Football Club is a professional English football team. ... John Beck was a Reform Party candidate in the 1993 Canadian election who was forced to abandon his candidacy after making a series of anti-immigrant remarks. ... David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ... Jon Macken (born September 07, 1977) is an Irish footballer who plays for Crystal Palace in The Championship. ... Kevin Kilbane, born in Preston, England on February 1, 1977, is a left-sided midfielder who plays for Everton in the FA Premier League. ... David Moyes (born April 25, 1963 in Blythswood, Glasgow) is a football manager and former player. ...

Recent graduates of the Preston academy include Tyrone Mears and Andrew Lonergan. But with the Centre of Excellence ticking over, Preston chose to make Peters redundant, in a cost-cutting measure. Exeter City quickly secured his services and issued him with the challenge, with just 13 matches of the 2002-03 season remaining, of preserving their league status. Peters lost this challenge, but Exeter lost only three of those 13 games. With the club in financial turmoil, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman both resigned after they had been arrested as part of an investigation of club finances. Possibly facing a large points penalty for going into administration, having to release a large number of the playing staff and being unable to sign any new players, Peters resigned four days later. Peters joined Everton, where David Moyes was manager, as a scout. Exeter City F.C. is an English football club, based in Exeter, who have played in the English Football League for most of its history, but now play in the Nationwide Conference. ... The 2002-2003 season was the 123rd season of competitive football (soccer) in England, from August 2002 to July 2003: // England national team Key: ECQ = 2004 European Championship qualifiers, F = Friendly; scores are written England first European club competitions UEFA Champions League Manchester United - Quarter finals Arsenal - Second group phase... Everton Football Club are an English football club from the city of Liverpool, founded in 1878. ...

Shrewsbury Town F.C.

In November 2004, Peters took over the reins at Shrewsbury Town. The club had been promoted out of the Football Conference in the summer of 2004 under Jimmy Quinn but were struggling in the newly-titled "League Two", and had been knocked out of the FA Cup by the unknowns of Histon. Shrewsbury finished 21st out of 24 that season, 11 points above the relegated Kidderminster. Going into the current season, 2005-06, Shrewsbury were favourites for relegation, and after a poor start to the season it looked a likelihood. But Peters has since turned Shrewsbury's fortunes upwards, with the club even knocking Football League Championship leaders Sheffield United out of the League Cup in a 'giant-killing' act. Peters appointed the much-travelled Mick Wadsworth as his assistant. With Shrewsbury's form erratic, relegation is still a possibility, but they are capable of beating anyone in the division and currently lie in mid-table. Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football. ... Football Conference logo The Football Conference is a football league at the top of the National League System of so-called non-league football in England. ... Jimmy Quinn is a former Northern Irish international footballer and had a club career spanning several lower division clubs where he was a prolific scorer at centre forward. ... The FA Cups trophy is also known as the FA Cup. ... Histon is a football club currently playing in the Southern League. ... Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are an English football team from Kidderminster, Worcestershire. ... The 2005-2006 season will be the 126th season of competitive football in England. ... The Football League Championship logo The Football League Championship (often referred to as The Championship for short or the Coca-Cola Football League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the FA Premier... Sheffield United Football Club are a football club in The Football League. ... The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition. ... Michael Mick Wadsworth (born November 3, 1950 in Yorkshire, UK) is an English football coach, currently assistant manager at Shrewsbury Town. ...

External Links

• Profile at the League Managers Association (LMA) website
• Aldershot FC fansite "Where Are They Now?" section