Peter Storey - "The Bastard`s Bastard"

Soccer was notorious in the 60`s and 70`s for teams having a particular hard man defender ready to dish stick out to the opposing teams forwards.  Chelsea had "Ron "Chopper" Harris, Liverpool had Tommy Smith, Leeds had Norman "Bite your legs" Hunter & Terry Yorath, Derby had Roy Mcfarland, Nottingham Forest had Big Kenny Burns.  Other notables in midfield were Jimmy Case of Liverpool and Dave Mackay of Derby.  Hands up those who remember when Mackay got a grip of Leeds "Firebrand" Billy Bremner, and Bremner shit himself!  Arsenal certainly had one hard nut.  A man christened "The bastard`s bastard!"  This was defender and midfielder Peter Storey.

    Storey was born Peter Edwin Storey on September 7th 1945, and was a regular at matches with his father.  Good enough to get trials at clubs, he joined in 1962, the club where he was to achieve fame AND notoriety; Arsenal.  He eventually made it into the first team in October of 65, and became well known for his very aggressive style of tackling.  He later said it was to intimidate the opponents.  He won honours for Arsenal with the Fairs Cup in 1970, the League & FA Cup double in 1971, losing League Cup finals in 1968 & 1969.  I can still remember watching the 69 final against Swindon, and Don Rogers rounding Bob Wilson, to score his second, and Swindon`s third.  He was also a loser in the 1972 Cup Final against Leeds.  He went to earn 19 caps for England.  In 1977, he was given a transfer to Fulham, but retired at the end of the year.  Fulham at that time had legends like Bobby Moore & George Best, plus Rodney Marsh, but they were long past their best.

    Storey went into running a pub, but over the years, he was in and out of court, and was jailed for counterfeiting.  He was on bail for the counterfeiting charge, so he was involved in running a brothel, to make money.  That ended up in another charge.  He was jailed for three years over the first charge, spending his sentence in Wandsworth Prison & Spring Hill Prison.  After release, he was charged with smuggling pornography into the country, which was concealed inside a spare tyre.  He also copped for stealing two vehicles, disorderly conduct & Contempt of Court, for failing to appear in court over Bankruptcy charges.  He at one time was a taxi driver for a firm run by none other than Tommy Adams.

    Storey has been married 4 times, has 4 children and lives in the South of France.  He wrote his autobiography "True Storey - My Life & Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man".  Other footballers that have gone down were Mickey Thomas & Duncan Ferguson.  I wonder how Ferguson would have coped against the likes of central defenders like Kenny Burns & David Webb?  Just a thought.