Peter started his career with Finchley before making over 100 appearances in the Football League for Reading, where a broken leg cut short his professional career. He moved into the Southern League and was with Chlemsford City for three seasons before joining Wimbledon at the start of the 1969/70 season on a free transfer.

In his first season with the Dons he helped them win the Southern League Cup, but the Club went backwards over the following two seasons and he left for Stevenage Athletic.

After retiring he had spells as youth team coach at Charlton Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur and took charge of the reserves at Spurs before he took the hot seat at White Hart Lane when Keith Burkinshaw resigned during the 1984 close season. He took Spurs to third place in his first season, but after they finished tenth the following campaign he was sacked. Spells as assistant manager followed at QPR, Watford and Wales before he was again appointed manager of Spurs at the start of the 1991/92 season, but he was sacked again after only a season in charge. After further assistant manager roles at Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest he had a brief spell in charge of Sheffield Wednesday before taking over at Conference level Barnet in 2002, resigning after they failed to reach the playoffs. He was director of football at Grays in 2009 and followed this with a return to Barnet as coach, but left when Ian Hendon was sacked as manager in April 2010.