Jason Peake was a wonderfully gifted midfielder who had two spells with Rochdale during his career. He is a midfielder who has an excellent left foot and is one of the best passers of the ball in the lower leagues. He has an excellent reputation within the division, and is widely regarded as being one of the most skillful players around.
Jason started his career as a footballer with his hometown club of Leicester as a trainee, but first team opportunities were difficult to come by. A loan spell at Hartlepool brought him some first team action, but it was not enough to stop Peake getting released with less than ten matches for Leicester under his belt.
Things went from bad to worse as he had to join Halifax. However, he didn't allow this to hold him back as it was during this time that he started to acquire himself a decent reputation as being a useful midfielder. With the Shayman heading towards the Conference, Peake's managed to escape at just the right time, and his breakthrough into the big time came when he was involved in a swap deal with Alex Jones bringing him to Spotland.
Peake's first spell at Spotland was very successful and it brought him to the attention of many a manager. He was a very popular player at Rochdale, and was held in high regard by the supporters for his excellent passing and the great goals that he managed to score. At one point, he scored six goals in a ten game spell, including a real beauty in the FA Cup against Rotherham.
During this spell, Peake had made no secret of his wish to play at a higher level, and there had been plenty of interest from other clubs. It was therefore a surprise when he left Dale to sign for Brighton, newly relegated to division three. Dale's new manager Graham Barrow had been at the club at a matter of days before he was forced to sell the out of contract midfielder to the South coast club for £125,000. However, this turned out to be nothing short of a nightmare for Peake. Brighton were going through a very difficult period off the field. Supporters were angry with directors Archer and Belotti who had sold their beloved Goldstone ground, and this led to on the field problems. Manager Jimmy Case was sacked by the board, and Peake found himself out of favour, forced to play out of position at a team struggling at the foot of the table.
To make matters worse, Peake was singled out for abuse by a section of the support for being a "Belotti signing". All of this, coupled with the fact that Peake was being forced to commute from Leicester following several broken promises by the Brighton board, had seen Peake's dream move turn into nothing short of a nightmare for him.
Things became desperate for Peake, so much so that he found himself signing for bury, then a first division side. bury were a team in a higher division, fully aware of Peake's talents from his spell at Dale. However, Peake's silky skills didn't really fit in with the kick and rush tactics of Stan Ternant's bury team, and Peake found himself stranded back in the reserves.
An end to the nightmare finally arrived in the summer of 1998, when Dale manager Graham Barrow swallowed his pride and swooped to sign Peake on a free transfer for his second spell at Spotland. However, this too turned out to have its share of problems. Discontent on the terraces as Dale struggled again, and rumours of a fall out with the management team of Barrow and Joe Hinnigan didn't make things easy.
When Barrow and Hinnigan were relieved of their duties at the end of 98/99, new manager Steve Parkin orchestrated a change at Spotland, which saw Peake's career blossom once again. The free flowing style of football on offer, was much more suited to Peake's natural style. Peake was awesome in the opening months of the 99-2000 season and was at the heart of a side, which led the table early on. During 99-00, Peake also got his fair share of goals, including a couple of crackers. One saw him complete a team move consisting of almost twenty passes by firing the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box. He also scored a superb overhead kick from the edge of the area against old team Halifax Town, which saw him win the club's goal of the season competition and awarded "Better than Pele" status on Sky's Soccer AM.
However, as ever, it all turned sour once again, and following the end of his contract in June 2000, Peake decided that he could be more successful elsewhere, and opted for a move to Plymouth Argyle following his failing to agree terms with Dale. And yet again a move to the South Coast proved to be disastrous for Peakey, as his move to Plymouth didn't really work out.
He left the Pilgrims just a matter of months into his two year contract with them, signing for non league Nuneaton. It's fair to say that when he looks back on his career, his times with Dale will be the times where he produced the best football of his career.
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