Martin Peters: Tottenham and Chelsea hold minute's applause in memory of England World Cup winner

Tom Doyle22 December 2019

Tottenham and Chelsea held a minute's applause today in memory of Martin Peters, who passed away at the age of 76 on Saturday morning.

Former West Ham and Tottenham midfielder Peters, who scored England's second goal in the 1966 final against West Germany, died in his sleep following a long battle against Alzheimer's disease.

Peters was part of the Hammers trio of captain Bobby Moore and Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-2 victory at Wembley, in Sir Alf Ramsey's side.

Tottenham and Chelsea paid tribute to Peters - who went on to play for and captain Spurs - ahead of their Premier League clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium today.

IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images

A statement from Tottenham read: "We were saddened to hear of the death of our former captain Martin Peters who passed away this morning at the age of 76.

"We extend our sincere condolences to his family and many friends in the game at this sad time. A true footballing great has left us but his memory will live on."

In Pictures | Martin Peters

1/15

After 364 games and 100 goals, Peters left Upton Park for Tottenham in 1970, becoming Britain's first £200,000 footballer, in a deal which saw striker Jimmy Greaves head in the opposite direction.

While at White Hart Lane, Peters helped Bill Nicholson's team lift the League Cup at Wembley in 1971 and again, as captain, in 1973, a season after playing his part in Spurs' UEFA Cup victory over Wolves. He went on to play for Norwich and Sheffield United.

After being awarded the MBE in 1978 and hanging up his boots in 1981, Peters regularly attended matches at Upton Park as a club ambassador.

In 2016, it was revealed Peters had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, one of several of the 1966 team to be battling dementia.

A statement from Peters' family read: "It is with profound sadness that we announce that Martin passed away peacefully in his sleep at 4.00am this morning.

Getty Images

"A beloved husband, dad and granddad, and a kind, gentle and private man, we are devastated by his loss but so very proud of all that he achieved and comforted by the many happy memories we shared.

"We will be making no further comment and kindly ask that the privacy of our family is respected at this extremely difficult time."

Additional reporting by PA.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in