Peter Daniel

[loweman2]

Another meet up yesterday with one of the most loyal and longstanding players ever on the Derby County books, just under 200 appearances spanning from 1963 to 1979, he served under six managers from Tim Ward to Colin Addison with a couple of Championship seasons, a second division winners season and a number of European nights, FA cup runs and managers such as Brian Clough, Dave Mackay and Tommy Docherty along the way, he survived the cull from all of them until age caught up with him, and he was of course a Derby lad born and bred.

Peter kindly agreed to meet up with us at my old mans house, he even brought along his good lady wife.

Peter was always the reliable player that would step in if Todd or Macfarland were playing for England and his time to shine was in the 1974/75 season when after a few games McFarland was injured whilst playing for England, Peter stepped in and played 37 games alongside Toddy and helped lead the Rams to a second First Division Championship title in Four Seasons !

He was also presented with the Player of the year award in that season for his heroics.

he told me yesterday that he actually got injured in pre season in his groin and had to play the entire season having strong pain killing injections three hours before each game, it was only with a few games to go that the injury finally forced him to accept that he needed to rest and a rehabilitated Roy McFarland stepped back in to grab the headlines and the limelight for the last three games.

if you ever see the photos of the trophy presentation its Roy running around holding the trophy aloft whilst poor old Peter is left standing at the side in his suit !

he was the most unassuming nice gentleman to meet, he had no bad things to say about anybody other than he had enjoyed his career and loved playing with the fantastic array of colleagues that he had ranging from Mackay to Charlie George, he obviously had some good Clough anecdotes but like all the others said he was not a friend but was a great man manger and motivator who demanded the utmost effort.

it saddened me to hear that he was burgled a few years ago and they took everything, his shirts, his medals and his player of the year trophy, left him with nothing, I mean what sort of ****** would do that, its not as if you can sell them on.

he says he has no interest now days in football and doesn't follow it, much like Colin Boulton who said the same.

he said there used to be a lot of drinking going off but he would always go home and tend to his rather large garden.

For those who don't know since we lost my mum I am trying to do stuff with my dad that we will both remember and at the same time enjoy aswell as of course spending valuable time together as none of us are getting any younger.

he was always a Derby fan as a kid from the 50s up to current day, him myself and my lad all have season tickets and its great that it has passed through the generations, so I struck on the idea of meeting up with as many of his legends from the 60s and 70s that we could, it also ties in well with my obsession for collecting Derby shirts and getting them signed, so far in the last twelve months we have met and spent valuable time with Colin Todd, John Ohare, Frank Wignall, Jim Walker, Steve Powell, Colin Boulton, John McGovern, Alan Hinton, Terry Hennesy, Charlie George and now Peter Daniel, with a few more lined up over the next couple of months.

up the rams !

[mozza]

What an incredible quest you are enjoying,  i'm jealous, keep it up mate, love the updates you are sharing with us, cheers. 

[AndyinLiverpool]

I am truly welling up at all this nostalgia.

Thanks so much for this.

[ramblur]

Great piece, and thanks a million. Glad Pete's still around,as I didn't know. Stanley man, from memory?

[uttoxram75]

Brilliant stuff @loweman2

[loweman2]

4 minutes ago, ramblur said:

Great piece, and thanks a million. Glad Pete's still around,as I didn't know. Stanley man, from memory?

yes @ramblur spot on sir !!

[loweman2]

thanks for the comments guys, never want to come across as boring or showing off but its good to share these things, I have got a massive statement to make about Jim Walker but I will give it a bit longer before spilling the beans ! something I am very proud to have been a big part of !

[Ellafella]

@loweman2, you are a Gentleman Sir and a brilliant son to your father and great father to your son. What a fantastic story and picture; Peter Daniel was a completely unsung hero and what a player for stepping into Roy Mac's huge boots and totally living up to them.

I spoke with Ron Webster a couple of seasons back and he spoke in glowing terms about Peter Daniel and what a brilliant pro he was. I would love Colin Gibson to "do" Peter Daniel* but I suspect PD would quietly demur.

 

* and Ron Webster. How about a double-act ie RW & PD together? 

 

[Pearl Ram]

Boring or showing off ? Keep ‘em coming loweman, I really enjoy them and quite envy you. Do any of the players keep in regular touch with each other still on a regular basis ? Or do they just meet up occasionally for special events ie anniversaries of the title wins ?

Now, this lock up I’ve seen you mention, where did you say it was ? 

[admira]

Fantastic. Any plans to meet King Kev? That would be the ultimate 

[loweman2]

5 minutes ago, Pearl Ram said:

Boring or showing off ? Keep ‘em coming loweman, I really enjoy them and quite envy you. Do any of the players keep in regular touch with each other still on a regular basis ? Or do they just meet up occasionally for special events ie anniversaries of the title wins ?

Now, this lock up I’ve seen you mention, where did you say it was ? 

there is the core of players roger davies, kevin hector, archie and or course McFarland who do a lot of stuff together but the rest of them don't seem to see each other unless its the annual Christmas party, Colin Boulton and Peter Daniel don't seem to want to have to much to do with it, they live a different life now where football has been left in the past, a bit like if you or I changed our career path, you may meet up every now and again with old work colleagues but your not exactly friends, I've never heard any of them say anything bad about their ex colleagues, yes they have about managers and back room staff and people in the back ground who may or may not have been involved in shady deals and its always the same name that comes up.

what has struck me is what a really nice group of men they are, all of them have time for you and are very open in discussion, I assure them of my discretion and wouldn't have it any other way, they real stand out guys though have been Toddy and Alan Durban, I share regular weekly emails with them and send stuff to their home addresses to be signed etc, they are both fantastic guys and go out of their way to assist me.

I just wish that our club did more to involve them, one thing that is poor is that the Christmas get together they have they have to buy tickets for it and now they let in members of the public, who just want to ask about Cloughie of get signatures (yes just like me !! ;-)) instead of the club putting on a night for them and paying for it all, they are like forgotten men, very soon none of them will be with us and everybody will be wanting to hear stories about the good old days when Derby County were the champions of England but there will be no one left to tell them !

make the most of them whilst they are here !! don't let Roger and Roy grab all the limelight !! people like Peter Daniel stood in and did all the hard work for Roy and yet its him that linked with being a champion !!

I will PM you where the lock up is !! why do you want to know ??

up the rams !!

[loweman2]

3 minutes ago, admira said:

Fantastic. Any plans to meet King Kev? That would be the ultimate 

saving him till last !!

[Rev]

1 hour ago, loweman2 said:

thanks for the comments guys, never want to come across as boring or showing off but its good to share these things, I have got a massive statement to make about Jim Walker but I will give it a bit longer before spilling the beans ! something I am very proud to have been a big part of !

It's never occurred to me that you're showing off, just sharing,with appropriate discretion, you and your father's meetings with them.

Keep them coming, it's great to hear how willing they are to help you in your quest!

Let's hope this thread catches the eyes of the current high ups, and they start to treat these men with the respect they deserve.

If not, I'd willingly donate to any crowd funding effort that sees them not out of pocket for attending club functions.

[hintonsboots]

Did you crack open the bottle of red ?   

[europia]

Thanks for another top post. Daniel was a fantastic pro and would have played a lot more games, but we had Roy Mac. Not surprised to hear that some of these ex pros no longer follow football. The game has changed unrecognisably, and not for the better... 

[RamNut]

I hope you asked him about the diving header he set up for me when we were training at belper in 1980

i 've not forgotten it so i assume he hasn't either 

terrible news that he got burgled and they nicked his stuff. Utter utter wonkers.

willie carlin had his second div title medal nicked too. Not sure if he ever won anything else....... despite being ace.

P.s. You're missing bruce? 

 

[loweman2]

10 minutes ago, RamNut said:

I hope you asked him about the diving header he set up for me when we were training at belper in 1980

i 've not forgotten it so i assume he hasn't either 

terrible news that he got burgled and they nicked his stuff. Utter utter wonkers.

willie carlin had his second div title medal nicked too. Not sure if he ever won anything else....... despite being ace.

P.s. You're missing bruce? 

 

It’s funny he did mention the cross for your diving header @RamNut when I asked him what was the most memorable thing that you ever did in football ?

i have tried everything with Bruce, just to get him to sign a couple of things not necessarily meet me and the old lad, I’ve got his address near Falmouth and written to him a couple of times but no luck, I have got shirts, books and photos all in need of his signature just to finish things off, I have been trying for twenty years, please tell me you are his half brother and see him once a month !! ?

[ramblur]

2 hours ago, loweman2 said:

yes @ramblur spot on sir !!

I know there's a farmer amongst the old brigade,and for some reason I always think of Pete first, before getting the sneaking feeling that it was in fact Ronnie .

I know that John O'Hare, Alan Hinton and Alan Durban all lived in Ockbrook. I got one story that John was to have his bedroom decorated,but he was still in bed, so they decorated around him. I also heard that Sunderland were rumoured to be wanting to sign him back at one stage, so he promptly turned up at a local party sporting the sunderland shirt.

 

Seem to remember Alan Durban being pretty good at tennis and cricket, and that he managed to turn out for the Derbyshire 2nd Xl once?

Such happy memories and I wonder if they appreciate the level of warmth we all feel towards them.

[europia]

5 minutes ago, ramblur said:

I know there's a farmer amongst the old brigade,and for some reason I always think of Pete first, before getting the sneaking feeling that it was in fact Ronnie .

I know that John O'Hare, Alan Hinton and Alan Durban all lived in Ockbrook. I got one story that John was to have his bedroom decorated,but he was still in bed, so they decorated around him. I also heard that Sunderland were rumoured to be wanting to sign him back at one stage, so he promptly turned up at a local party sporting the sunderland shirt.

 

Seem to remember Alan Durban being pretty good at tennis and cricket, and that he managed to turn out for the Derbyshire 2nd Xl once?

Such happy memories and I wonder if they appreciate the level of warmth we all feel towards them.

Alan Durban also had quite a decent football management career. He was interviewed on RD, the week prior to the Cardiff fixture. He was really clued up on both teams and obviously still knows his stuff. Spoke a lot more sense than current pundits (and some of DCFC's recent managerial misfits...)

[ramblur]

14 minutes ago, europia said:

Alan Durban also had quite a decent football management career. He was interviewed on RD, the week prior to the Cardiff fixture. He was really clued up on both teams and obviously still knows his stuff. Spoke a lot more sense than current pundits (and some of DCFC's recent managerial misfits...)

Did he once manage Stoke?