Last night I heard the news that the former Blackburn, Manchester City and Stoke player Peter Dobing had died. Here is a profile of him written by the late Manchester City historian John Maddocks and given to me by John around the year 2000. John was a real expert on City’s former players and had spent years researching their careers. I was fortunate to have John’s support during my early years of research and writing. Here’s his brief profile of Peter:
DOBING, Peter A.
Role: Midfield/Forward 1961-63
5’10” 11st.8lbs.
b. Manchester, 1st December 1938
CAREER: Blackburn Rovers Dec 1955/CITY 17 July 1961/Stoke City 15 Aug 1963.
Debut v Leicester City (h) 19.8.1961
An extremely skilful inside-forward with an eye for goals, Peter Dobing came to City along with Bobby Kennedy in the summer of 1961 bought with the money received for Denis Law from Torino. He had been an influential player with Blackburn Rovers, having opted for them in preference to Manchester United – who had shown great interest in him – because he felt he would have a chance of faster progress at Ewood Park. He won seven England Under-23 caps and played three times for the Football League. In his first season with the Blues Peter scored 22 goals in 41 outings with nine of those goals coming in three hat-tricks, West Ham suffering twice! His other was against Spurs who were League and cup double holders when City whipped them 6-2 at Maine Road. He was top scorer. The following season ended with a disillusioned Dobing asking for, and getting, a transfer, the thought of Second Division football just too much for him. He moved to Stoke City where he stayed for ten years after which he retired through injury. He became a pottery worker and still lives near Stoke.
Appearances:
FL:82 apps. 31 gls.
FAC:5 apps.
FLC:7 apps. 1 gl.
TOTAL:94 apps. 12 gls.
Other : 4 apps. 1 gl.
