Peter Handyside

Peter Handyside

Personal information
Full name	Peter David Handyside
Date of birth	31 July 1974 (1974-07-31)
Place of birth	Dumfries, Scotland
Height	6 ft 01 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1986–1990	Heston Rovers
1990–1991	Grimsby Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–2001	Grimsby Town	199	(4)
2001–2003	Stoke City	78	(0)
2003–2004	Barnsley	28	(0)
2004–2006	Northwich Victoria	29	(0)
2006–2007	Hucknall Town
Total		334	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Peter David Handyside (born 31 July 1974 in Dumfries) is a former Scottish professional footballer who played as a defender from 1992 until 2007 spending his entire professional career in England.

Having come through the ranks at Heston Rovers he earned a professional contract with Grimsby Town in 1992 where he went on to be part of arguably Grimsby's finest team. He moved on to Stoke City before having also having spells with Barnsley, Northwich Victoria and Hucknall Town before hanging up his boots in 2007 at the age of 33.

Career

Heston Rovers

Handyside was a product of the youth system at Heston Rovers a local side from his home town of Dumfries. He also had a spell on the books of the youth team of Queen of the South including playing in a BP Youth Cup second round tie against Celtic on 31 October 1990.

Grimsby Town

Handyside was trialed by Grimsby Town and was signed by the clubs youth team in 1990. He took his step up into the first team in 1992 and was eventually the club's long term replacement for veteran centre back Paul Futcher and made an excellent pairing with Mark Lever. Handyside's maturity grew and he became an integral part of Grimsby's defensive setup, and along with Lever, John McDermott, Tony Gallimore, Graham Rodger, Kevin Jobling and Richard Smith was part of arguably Grimsby's best ever defence. The 1997-1998 Handyside continued to be the nucleus of Town's strong defence that helped achieve a promotion to back to the First Division via the play offs, and victory in the Football League Trophy. He bowed out at Grimsby after the 2000-2001 season. An injury troubled campaign, he was often replaced by loan signing Zhang Enhua. At the end of the season, he rejected the chance to stay on with Grimsby and moved to Second Division Stoke City.

Stoke City

He then dropped a league to join Stoke City. Handyside was made captain, and won promotion with Stoke in his first season returning the club to the second tier of English football. He left the club after two seasons.

Barnsley

In 2003 he made a move to Barnsley but after a season hit with fitness and injury problems he departed Oakwell at the end of the 2003-2004 season.

Northwich Victoria

His next port of call was to make a move to Conference club Northwich Victoria where he captained the Vics for two seasons before being released.

Hucknall Town

Hucknall Town signed Handyside for the 2006-2007 campaign. He remained at the club for one year before leaving the club on a free transfer. Handyside has played alongside his fellow Grimsby promotion winning team mate Tony Gallimore at four different clubs: Grimsby, Barnsley, Northwich Victoria and Hucknall; the only team at which Peter has not played with Tony is Stoke City, ironically Gallimore's first senior club.

Personal life

Since retiring from professional football Handyside has worked as a delivery driver for Gilberts Furniture on the Fenton Industrial Estate in Stoke on Trent.

Honours

Grimsby Town

• Second Division play-off winner: 1997-98
• Auto Windscreens Shield winner: 1997-98

Stoke City

• Second Division play-off winner: 2001-02

External links

• Peter Handyside career stats at Soccerbase