Editing Peter Withe (section)

===Club career===
====Early career====
He began his career at Southport but left in 1971 after a handful of appearances. Late that year he made an appearance for the reserve team of [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]]<ref>Preston North End v Bristol City football programme, 27 December 1971, p. 12 – this confirms Withe had appeared for the reserves</ref> but soon moved on to Barrow for whom he made one appearance (against his former club Southport on 1 January 1972).<ref>Rothmans Football Yearbook 1972–1973 (published 1972), p. 87, Queen Anne Press</ref> After this he played in South Africa.

Withe played for [[Wolverhampton Wanderers]] in two seasons from 1973. In 17 league games he scored three goals.<ref name=nb>[http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/peterwithe.html Peter Withe on Neil Brown's player website]</ref>

During the summer of 1975, Withe spent one season in the United States as a member of the expansion [[Portland Timbers (NASL)|Portland Timbers]] of the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League (NASL)]].<ref name="Horner2009">{{cite book|author=Matthew Horner|title=He Shot, He Scored: The Official Biography of Peter Ward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fp1qKuNF7ssC&pg=PA30|year=2009|publisher=ebookpartnership.com|isbn=978-0-9562769-0-2|pages=30–}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He scored 17 goals and added 7 assists in 22 games, leading the Timbers to first place in their division, and tied for the best record in the league at 16–6. Withe's goals that summer made him a Timbers fan favourite, who nicknamed him "The Mad Header" and "The Wizard of Nod".<ref name="Orr2011">{{cite book|author=Michael Orr|title=The 1975 Portland Timbers: The Birth of Soccer City, USA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKwretQccJkC&pg=PA24|date=21 November 2011|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1-60949-466-7|pages=24–}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In August the Timbers played two home play-off games in front of more than 30,000 fans each, numbers unheard of for US soccer at the time. They advanced to [[Soccer Bowl|Soccer Bowl '75]], the League Championship final, in San Jose, California on 24 August, where they lost to the [[Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993)|Tampa Bay Rowdies]] 2–0.<ref name="Peters2015">{{cite book|author=Paul Peters|title=Aston Villa The England Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Gg_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|date=8 February 2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-326-16557-4|pages=76–}}{{self-published source|date=May 2021}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}

Withe returned to the West Midlands to join [[Birmingham City]] in 1975. He scored nine goals in 35 league games in just over a season before departing early in the 1976/77 season.

====Nottingham Forest====
[[Brian Clough]] joined [[Nottingham Forest]] as manager in January 1975. In the summer of 1976 he was joined by [[Peter Taylor (footballer, born 1928)|Peter Taylor]], who had been his assistant at [[Derby County]] in winning the [[1971–72 Football League]].<ref name=dc>[https://www.dcfc.co.uk/page/the-history-of-derby-county dcfc.co.uk "Derby County Club History"]</ref> From Taylor's arrival Forest immediately went into upswing.<ref name=nffc>[https://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/club/history-landing-page/history-of-nffc/ nffc.co.uk "History of NFFC – Nottingham Forest"]</ref> Forest signed the 25-year-old Withe to make his debut for the club on 25 September 1976. He scored on his debut in a 5–1 [[Football League Second Division]] home win v [[Carlisle United]] with strike partner [[John O'Hare]] also scoring. Withe was given a new strike partner on 3 November 1976 in an [[Anglo-Scottish Cup]] 2–0 win at [[Ayr United]]. [[Tony Woodcock (footballer)|Tony Woodcock]] was recalled to the first team, bringing speed and anticipation to the front two to complement Withe's height, strength and power.<ref name=gunners>[https://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2017/07/12/arsenals-original-fox-in-the-box-highbury-hero-tony-woodcock/ "Arsenal's original 'Fox-in-the-box" – Highbury Hero Tony Woodcock"]</ref> Withe and Woodcock both scored at Ayr. Withe ended the season as the club top scorer with 19 goals and Woodcock second with 17 and Forest's Player of the Year despite his November seasonal debut. Forest's first trophy of the Clough and Taylor regime was in December that season beating Orient over two legs in the Anglo-Scottish Cup final. Withe played in the 1–1 first leg away draw on 13 December 1976 but then spent two weeks out the side missing the 4–0 second leg win. Forest won promotion at the end of the season to the top tier from finishing third in Division Two.<ref name=tcgpw>[http://www.thecityground.com/player.php?player_name=Peter%20Withe "The City Ground – Peter Withe"]</ref><ref name=tcgtw>[http://www.thecityground.com/player.php?player_name=Tony%20Woodcock "The City Ground – Tony Woodcock"]</ref><ref name=nffc/>

Withe and Woodcock won the [[1977–78 Football League First Division]] and [[1977–78 Football League Cup]] with Forest. They ended the season as Forest's joint top scorers with 19 goals each. Withe scored in the [[1978 FA Charity Shield]] 5–0 win against [[Ipswich Town]] on 12 August 1978. After playing in the 1–1 league home draw the week after against [[Tottenham Hotspur]], Forest agreed to sell him for £225,000 just before his 27th birthday at the end of that month. Withe scored 39 goals in 99 competitive first team games for Forest.<ref name=tcgpw/> This included 28 goals in 75 league games.<ref name=nb/> His place in the next three games was given to league debutant [[Steve Elliott (footballer, born 1958)|Steve Elliott]]; all of them ended goalless.<ref name=tcg78>[http://thecityground.com/season_details.php?season_id=1978-79 "SEASON: 1978–79" The City Ground]</ref> The number 9 jersey was then given to 22-year-old [[Garry Birtles]] who promptly became a regular first choice, winning the [[European Cup]] with Forest in this season and the following one.<ref name=tcggb>[http://thecityground.com/player.php?player_name=Garry%20Birtles "GARRY BIRTLES"]</ref>

====Newcastle United====
Withe joined [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]]<ref name="Fletcher2015">{{cite book|author=Kev Fletcher|title=The Toon's Greatest 100 Players...EVER!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7QVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA113|date=26 June 2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-326-29685-8|pages=113–}}{{self-published source|date=May 2021}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} then in the [[Football League First Division|Second Division]] for a transfer fee of £225,000.<ref name="Peters2015"/> He debuted in a 1–1 home draw v [[Luton Town]]<ref name=toon/> In just under two seasons he scored 25 goals in 76 league games.<ref name=nb/>

====Aston Villa====
[[File:FC Bayern Munchen tegen Aston Villa 0-1 Europa Cup I blijde Aston Villa spelers , Bestanddeelnr 932-1813.jpg|thumb|left|Peter Withe (right) with [[Gary Shaw (footballer, born 1961)|Gary Shaw]] and [[Tony Morley]] after winning the [[1982 European Cup]] on [[1982 European Cup final|26 May]]]]

[[Ron Saunders]] took him to [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] on the eve of the [[1980–81 in English football|1980–81 season]] when the Birmingham club paid £500,000 for the club's record signing at the time. He was 29 at the end of the month that league season started. Withe was paired with [[Gary Shaw (footballer, born 1961)|Gary Shaw]] whose pace and anticipation gave Withe a strike partner with playing similarities to Tony Woodcock when Withe was at Forest.<ref name=shaw>[https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/aston-villa/2017/02/27/gary-shaw-a-true-aston-villa-legend/ "Gary Shaw: A true Aston Villa legend" Express and Star, 27 February 2017]</ref><ref name=game>[https://gameofthepeople.com/2016/11/25/we-are-the-champions-1980-81-aston-villa/ "We are the Champions: 1980-81- Aston Villa" gameofthepeople.com 25 November 2016]</ref> Withe won a trophy in each of his first three seasons at [[Villa Park]].<ref name=avfcpw>[https://www.avfc.co.uk/players/p/w/peter-withe "Peter Withe" Aston Villa Football Club]</ref> Withe scored 20 times in 36 games to finish joint-top scorer in the league with [[Tottenham Hotspur]]'s [[Steve Archibald]] in that first season as [[Aston Villa]] won the Football League title. Withe and Spurs' [[Mark Falco]] both scored twice sharing the [[1981 FA Charity Shield]] from a 2–2 draw.<ref name=fa81cs>[http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/CommunityShield/1981-82CharityShield.htm footballsite.co.uk 1981–82 Charity Shield]</ref>

Withe scored the only goal in the [[1982 European Cup final]] win against [[Bayern Munich]].<ref name="Peters2015"/> The season after Withe played in the [[1982 European Super Cup]] 3–1 aggregate win against [[FC Barcelona]].

He scored 90 goals in over 200 games for Villa.<ref name=avfcpw/> After five years he eventually moved on in what he later described as "the biggest wrench of my career."

====Later career====
He joined [[Sheffield United]] scoring 18 goals in 74 league games in three seasons from 1985 to 1988. In his last season there he scored twice in eight league games on loan back at ex-club, Birmingham City. Both of these goals were actually against Sheffield United. They let him play on loan in a match, where goalkeeper Roger Hansbury had gone on loan the other way. He ended his senior playing days scoring once in 38 league games at [[Huddersfield Town]] between 1988 and 1990.<ref name=nb/>