Peter Osgood

Peter Osgood

Statue of Peter Osgood outside Stamford Bridge
Personal information
Full name	Peter Leslie Osgood
Date of birth	(1947-02-20)20 February 1947
Place of birth	Windsor, England
Date of death	1 March 2006(2006-03-01) (aged 59)
Place of death	Slough, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1974	Chelsea	279	(103)
1974–1977	Southampton	126	(28)
1976–1977	→ Norwich City (loan)	3	(0)
1977–1978	Philadelphia Fury	22	(1)
1978–1979	Chelsea	10	(2)
Total		440	(134)
National team
1970–1973	England	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Peter Leslie Osgood (20 February 1947 – 1 March 2006) was an English footballer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best remembered for representing Chelsea and Southampton at club level, and was also capped four times by England in the early 1970s.

Born in a house in Kentons Lane in Windsor, Osgood was signed by Chelsea as a junior and made his debut as a 17-year-old in the League Cup, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win against Workington AFC on 16 December 1964. The buzz surrounding the tall, skilful teenager's goalscoring for the club's reserves – 30 goals in 20 games going into that month – was already immense, and he soon became a regular first-teamer.

Following an end-of-season tour of Australia during which Osgood scored 12 times in eight games, the centre-forward's next senior match was the 22 September 1965 4–1 victory over AS Roma in the Inter-City Fairs Cup (a violent encounter dubbed "the Battle of the Bridge"). A run in the league followed, bringing seven goals, including one involving a 60-yard run past a number of Burnley players.

The teenager was soon hailed as a possible late call-up for Alf Ramsey's 1966 World Cup squad, having been included in the original 40-man squad announced in April 1966, but he was not included in the final 22.

A broken leg suffered in a challenge by Blackpool's Emlyn Hughes in the League Cup on 6 October 1966 seriously curtailed his progress, and he missed Chelsea's first-ever Wembley FA Cup final on 20 May 1967. Chelsea lost to Tottenham Hotspur 1–2. This was a major disappointment for Osgood, but after he returned from the injury his abilities were recognised by new manager Dave Sexton playing him often as a midfielder, notably wearing the number 4 shirt for most of the 1968– 69 season (reference page 70 'Ossie – King of Stamford Bridge' written with Martin Knight and John King ), but it is as a goalscoring centre-forward, number 9, that he is best remembered. He was given the nickname "the Wizard of Os".