Peter Mendham was a loyal servant to Norwich City for
over 20 years. Indeed Ken Brown was
to state "If you cut him open his blood would flow yellow and
green".
Spotted by Norwich scouts in a school match between Norwich and
Ipswich, Peter joined Norwich at the age of 15 and played for
the Norwich City schoolboy and youth sides before signing as an
apprentice on 30th June 1976. He turned professional in April
1978 and made his first team debut five months later as substitute
against Derby County on 30th September 1978. Until his retirement
in April 1987 as a result of a pelvic injury, he played 267 first
team matches for the Canaries scoring 29 goals. During this time,
he won a Milk Cup winners medal
and a Second Division Championship medal. His loyalty to the club
was shown in other ways, often acting as the club's representative.
This was rewarded with a position as the club's Football in the
Community Officer which liases with schools across Norfolk. The
latter days of Robert Chase's chairmanship contained many unsavory
moments. One of the most despicable was Peter's sacking from the
aforementioned post. Officially this was due to a lack of funds
in the club's coffers but rumours have it that Peter spoke out
against the terrible state that the club was falling into.
After his retirement in 1987, Peter continued to play amateur
football. He was manager of King's Lynn from June 1987 to November
1987, having gained managerial experience as player coach for
New Zealand side Mirimar in the summer of 1981. He continued to
play for King's Lynn until June 1988 when he joined Watton Town
as player coach. Attempts to restart his career in Sweden with
Hammarby and in Holland with NAC Breda both failed. He joined
Diss town in June 1991 then moved to Wroxham in November 1992.
Bill Punton reclaimed him for Diss in September 1993 which was
an intelligent move as Peter scored the winning goal in extra-time
against Taunton Town in the FA Vase final at Wembley in May 1994.
Brief spells were also spent with North Walsham and Norwich United.
He rejoined Wroxham to play alongside fellow ex-Canaries
Jon Rigby, Mark Crowe,
Darren Gill and Scott Snowling. . At the end of 1997, Peter retired from
playing. However the lure of the game was too much for him and
he resumed playing for Wroxham at the end of March 1998. His return
marked an improvement in Wroxham's game as they won the first
six games in which he played and Wroxham won the Jewson Eastern
Counties League again. Mike Davage revealed in his "Canaries Flown
From The Nest" article in the 1998/99 club handbook that the club
has recognised Peter's loyalty by re-employing him to work in
a coaching capacity with the youngsters.
The Eastern Daily Press reported
on July 3rd 1999 that Peter had rejoined Watton United who had
made a number of signing including Neil Pope (Peterborough), Martin
Pammenter (Soham), Gary Chandler and Steve McKenna (both Histon),
Frank Atkins (Ely), Spencer Clay (Attleborough) and Andrew Taylor
(Colchester United and whom possibly played for Norwich City Youths
in early 1999). The Pink Un
later reported on 13th November 1999 that Peter had signed
for Anglian Combination side Attleborough even though Peter was
fast approaching his 40th birthday. Since October 2000, he has
been playing for Red Roofs according to the 2001 edition of Canary
Citizens
Peter currently works for the East Anglian Air Ambulance, primarily
in a fund raising role.
Peter had a traumatic 2006. In July 2006, he was given a year-long
driving ban after being found guilty of drink-driving. Matters worsened
when on 18th October 2006, he was arrested for the attempted murder
of his girlfriend Charlotte Hyam who had been stabbed at Peter's
home in Trowse. He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent when he
appeared in court in Janaury 2007. An alternative charge of attempted
murder which he denies was ordered to lie on file. At the end of
Febraury 2007, Mendham was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
