PETER HADDOCK 

Date and Place of Birth 9th December 1961 - Newcastle   Transfers to and from Burnley from Newcastle United - March 1986 (loan) returned - April 1986   First and Last Burnley Games Wrexham (a) - 29th March 1986   Preston North End (h) - 22nd April 1986   Other Clubs Newcastle United ---------------------------------------- Leeds United

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Central defender Peter Haddock joined Burnley from Newcastle on loan in March 1986 and, as far as I know, became the first current Claret to feature on a question on television programme Question of Sport.

It was a strange signing in that our first season in the fourth division was heading nowhere and with no chance of signing him on a permanent basis there seemed little point in the deal other than to hopefully gain a few more points.

In that respect, Haddock was a success as we won three, drew three and lost just one of the seven games he played for us.

It was Tommy Cavanagh who brought him to Turf Moor, and, although Haddock had lost his place in the Newcastle side, it was a surprise to see him drop into the bottom division to get some regular football.

He'd made his debut for the Geordies in 1982 and for a time was first choice in the side, but by the time he joined the Clarets he was only very occasionally getting a first team game.

He looked a class above at our level and on his debut at Wrexham we kept only our second clean sheet of 1986. He had an excellent game in a back four that read Kevin Hird, Haddock, Ray Deakin and Peter Hampton, two of them former Leeds players where Haddock would soon be heading.

We won that game at Wrexham 1-0 with a goal from Ashley Hoskin and in his three away appearances we didn't concede a goal, drawing 0-0 at Mansfield and beating Exeter 2-0, but conceded one goal in each of his four home appearances.

By this time the Burnley fans were very much hoping we'd be able to find the money to sign him, particularly as it looked as though Vince Overson might be on his way out of the club after a dispute with manager Cavanagh.

We'd arranged for the loan to be extended until the end of the season but it didn't quite happen after Newcastle suffered an embarrassing 8-1 defeat at West Ham. A day later he played his last game for the Clarets after which he was recalled and re-instated in the Newcastle first team.

It wasn't a long term fix at St. James' Park however. There were just a couple of games remaining that season and during the summer he was sold to Leeds United where he enjoyed some success under Howard Wilkinson.

Leeds paid £45,000 for him and he was a first team regular as they won their place back in the top flight in 1990. Two years later Leeds were crowned league champions, the last team to win the title before the introduction of the Premier League.

Haddock would have been in that side but for the horrendous knee injury he suffered in the previous season's League Cup semi-final against Manchester United. So severe was it that, at the age of 29, it ended his career.

Ironically, Leeds came very close to signing former Claret Overson as his replacement ahead of the championship season. Haddock was released at the end of his contract.

Now to that reference to Question of Sport. Whilst at Burnley, Haddock lodged with some friends of mine. On his first evening there I called round totally unaware that we'd signed anyone, let alone that he would be sat there when I walked in.

On came Question of Sport and eventually to the one minute round. For one of the teams they had, as part of that round, to name three sportsmen whose surnames were the names of fish and one of the three came up on screen as Peter __________ (football). We all fell about laughing except our new signing, the only one of us who couldn't get the answer.