Peter Thorne (English footballer)

English footballer

Peter Lee Thorne (born 21 June 1973) is an English retired professional footballer, who played as a striker. He played for a number of clubs in his career scoring just short of 200 goals. He started his career with Blackburn Rovers, but failed to make a single league appearance in four years before he left to join Swindon Town. He went on to play for Stoke City and Cardiff City, making more than 100 appearances for each. In 2005, he moved to Norwich City where he scored just one goal in two seasons and was on the verge of retiring until he moved to Bradford City. In two seasons, he was top scorer with Bradford, before leaving before the end of his third season and deciding to retire at the age of 36.

Thorne was born in Urmston, Lancashire and started his career at Blackburn Rovers. His only first team appearance came when he appeared in the 1994 FA Charity Shield at Wembley Stadium, he replaced Mark Atkins in the 64th minute of the 2–0 defeat against Manchester United. After a loan spell at Wigan Athletic, he signed for Swindon Town during the 1994–95 season, helping them reach the Football League Cup semi finals but not being able to prevent relegation to the Second Division. However, his goals helped them win promotion back to First Division at the first attempt, and secure survival in the 1996–97 season.

Thorne joined Stoke City in July 1997 after manager Chic Bates paid £500,000 for his services. He was signed as a replacement for Mike Sheron who joined Queens Park Rangers. He top scored with 16 goals in 1997–98 which was unable to prevent Stoke suffering relegation to the Second Division.

Thorne's career chances were limited at Norwich. He missed the start of the 2005–06 season through injury and then failed to establish himself as a first team regular, scoring just one goal during the season. In the summer of 2006, Norwich manager Nigel Worthington indicated that Thorne would be allowed to leave the club if a suitable offer was received. He remained on Norwich's books for the 2006–07 season, but was released at the end of the season. He considered retiring but subsequently signed for recently relegated League Two side Bradford City on a one year contract. He scored twice for Norwich, with strikes against Watford in the league and Rotherham United in the League Cup.

A hip injury kept the striker out of the start of the campaign but he eventually made his belated league début in a 2–1 defeat of Lincoln City at Sincil Bank on 7 September 2007 where he had a goal disallowed. He scored his first goal for Bradford – his first for more than a year – in a 1–0 FA Cup victory over Chester City on 10 November 2007, before scoring his first league goal a week later at Dagenham & Redbridge. He scored Bradford's first league hat trick in two years when he scored all three goals in a 3–0 victory over Notts County on 12 January 2008. With two games in three days, Thorne was rested for City's game with Rotherham United on 22 March 2008, before he scored the 150th league goal of his career two days later, when City beat Chesterfield 1–0. When City first signed Thorne, they included the option to extend his deal by a further year, and in March 2008, Thorne extended his contract to the end of the 2008–09 season. Thorne started the 2008–09 season by scoring two goals in each of the first two league games as City defeated Notts County and Macclesfield Town. He added a fifth in the first three games to help City maintain an unbeaten start to the season with a 2–0 win against Rochdale. He missed a penalty in City's fourth game as they lost to Aldershot Town by one goal, but his form earned him a League Two player of the month nomination for August and he made amends by scoring another three goals in the next two games, as Bradford secured back to back victories. Although he failed to win the player of the month award, in September he was rewarded with the PFA fans' monthly prize. Thorne topped the goalscoring charts for the division at the start of the season, and had scored 11 by the start of November, but his form tailed off and he was also hampered by a shoulder injury. He waited four months for his next goal which came as a late consolation against Notts County at the end of February before he scored another two the following weekend in a 5–0 defeat of Aldershot Town. He finished the season with 17 goals. He signed a new one year contract with Bradford in June 2009 and he was appointed as club captain ahead of the 2009–10 season, but he suffered an injury setback and was out of the team until January 2010, returning after scoring for the reserves. In March 2010, he was released from his contract by new manager Peter Taylor having failed to score during his third season with City. As a result, Thorne decided to retire from playing.

Thorne enjoys surfing, a hobby he took up as a teenager.