Kyle Peter Image 4 Arsenal 1907

Description

Certainly one of the most travelled players in British football history in a career beset by disciplinary problems and disputes with both clubs and team mates, Cadder, East Dunbartonshire born centre forward Peter Kyle was famed for a fierce temper. He began his football career with Linton Villa in 1896 and played for Parkhead Juniors in 1897 before his joining first senior club, Clyde, in 1898. After trials with Heart of Midlothian and Thames Ironworks (soon to be West Ham United), both clubs he would subsequently represent, he played for Larkhall Thistle in 1899 before joining First Division Liverpool for £100 that May, making his Football League debut at Stoke in September that year, playing in four of Liverpool’s first five League fixtures that season. However he only made one more appearance, again against Stoke, in an FA Cup first round replay the following February, before joining Second Division Leicester Fosse in May 1900.

He enjoyed a full season with The Fossils, missing only 3 games and scoring 4 goals in 32 appearances, before joining Southern League West Ham United at the end of September, making 3 appearances for them in November 1901, before spells with Northamptonshire Southern League clubs Kettering that November (in an exchange deal for W.J. Jones) and Wellingborough the following year.

Kyle then returned to Scotland to join Aberdeen playing once for the club at Dundee in September 1902, joining Cowdenbeath at the end of December 1902 where he remained till the following summer. He played four games for Heart of Midlothian in August and September 1903 before a spell with Port Glasgow Athletic later the same year, joining Royal Albert in 1904 and having a spell with Partick Thistle the same year.

Kyle then headed south returning to The Southern League with Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored 11 goals in 29 League and FA Cup matches. At Tottenham, he was reportedly involved in a fracas with teammate Christopher Carrick and suspended by the club. In April 1906 he joined Woolwich Arsenal and made his debut on the first day of the 1906-07, scoring twice in Arsenal’s First Division win over Manchester City on 1st September. That season, he was prolific in front of goal, scoring 14 goals in 35 League and Cup appearances (finishing second to Charlie Satterthwaite’s 19 strikes in Arsenal’s goal scoring charts) as Arsenal finished seventh, and Kyle played in their 1907 FA Cup semi final defeat to eventual winners Sheffield Wednesday at St Andrews, Birmingham.

His form was such that in March 1907 he was also selected for a Scotland trial match, albeit he never played a full international. After a further 9 goal return in 1907-08, and with Arsenal strapped for cash, Kyle was sold to Aston Villa to keep the club’s finances viable in March 1908 after 23 goals in 60 appearances for The Gunners.

However he was a fringe player at Aston Villa, playing 4 times in the run in as they finished League Championship runners up, but only once in the new season before being transferred to Sheffield United for £1,100 and Robert Evans in October 1908. He scored 4 goals in 10 games for The Blades during the remainder of the season before a second spell with Royal Albert, joining them in August 1909. However he soon returned to England signing for Southern League Watford in November 1909 where he scored 4 goals in 13 appearances before the club kicked him out after shenanigans – “utterly disgraceful and demoralising conduct”, said the West Herts Post – which also involved Frank Cotterill and Jock Grieve.

He returned to Scotland to re-join Royal Albert for a third time in the close season of 1910, and finished his career at Raith Rovers, whom he joined in July 1911.