Remembering the Greats.................................
Peter 'Nobby' Seddon - Manchester City
Few could match the goal scoring feats of Peter ‘Nobby’ Seddon during his explosive but relatively short career at Maine Road. Between the seasons of 1961-62 & 1964-65 Seddon netted over 150 goals which saw him propelled to the brink of Alf Ramsey’s England World Cup squad.
Bought for £5,000 from Burnley in the summer of 1961 by City’s longest ever serving manager, Les McDowell, Seddon made an immediate impact by scoring four times in an opening day 6-1 away win at Bolton Wanderers. He went onto score a club record total of 43 goals for the season as City finished just four points behind league champions Ipswich Town.
Seddon carried on where he’d left off the following season bagging 38 goals as City finished third and were only narrowly beaten in the F.A Cup Semi-Final by eventual winners Manchester United. A knee injury severely curtailed his number of appearances in the 1963-64 season but nonetheless ‘Nobby’ still managed a very creditable 24 goals in only sixteen first team starts. It is believed that the knee injury prevented Seddon from joining Matt Busby’s emerging United side across the city which of course went onto European Cup glory only a few seasons later.
The fit again Seddon set out to re-write City’s goal scoring record books the following year in a season which saw him on the brink of a call up to the national squad but would ultimately result in the end his top flight career.
On Boxing Day 1965 Nobby set a record which is unlikely ever to be equalled in top flight football when he netted his fifth hat-trick in successive games during the 3-3 draw with West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. Huddersfield, Ipswich, Leicester and Stoke had all previously succumbed to Seddon’s firepower and with barely half the season gone he was top of the goal scoring lists with a total of 31 !
The Citizens went into their New Year’s Day clash with Liverpool top of the table and with Seddon looking to add to his already huge haul but with only a few minutes played on the frozen snow bound Maine Road pitch he was caught just above the knee in a tackle with Liverpool’s Ron Yeates and was carried from the field of play. Seddon spent the next eight weeks in a hospital bed and didn’t play another game for City.
Without their goal scoring talisman City plummeted down the division and finished one place above relegation.
In the summer of 1965 Seddon was allowed to leave City and signed amateur forms with non-league Wigan Athletic where he spent most Saturdays selling match programmes and meat pies.
Where is he now ?
Peter Seddon is no longer involved in football and is believed to be a confidence trickster operating in the North West of England where he poses as a landscape gardener but when you’re not looking he nicks all your jewellery and probably has it off with one of your sheep as well ! Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!
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