Peter McDonald Leven (born 27 September 1983) is a Scottish football coach and former player. Leven played as a midfielder for Kilmarnock, Chesterfield, Milton Keynes Dons and Oxford United. He made over 300 career appearances and represented Scotland at the under-21 level.
Playing career Rangers Leven was a youth player with Rangers and as a 16-year-old appeared on the bench four times for the first team, including an Old Firm match. A year later, he suffered a serious knee injury in a pre-season game, which ruled him out for two years.
Kilmarnock Leven signed for Kilmarnock in 2004, where he established himself in the first team. He played 65 times for Kilmarnock and, at the end of the 2006–07 season, he rejected Kilmarnock's contract offer to head down south.
Chesterfield Leven joined Chesterfield on a free transfer in 2007. As Aaron Downes made a poor start to the 2007–08 season, Leven was given the captaincy of League Two side Chesterfield. He appeared in 44 of their 49 games in the 2007–08 season. The club turned down numerous offers from Brighton up to £125,000 in the January transfer window. Chesterfield then failed to gain promotion and he turned down a contract extension.
Milton Keynes Dons Leven joined Milton Keynes Dons in June 2008 on a free transfer. He won the League 1 Sports Writers Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season, his last for MK Dons. At the end of his contract at the Dons, Leven declined to accept the contract extension the club offered him and left as a free agent.
Oxford United There was interest in Leven from several clubs, including Millwall; and Crystal Palace, but, in July 2011, he signed a two-year deal with League Two side Oxford United. Leven set up both Oxford United goals in their 2–1 away win over arch-rivals Swindon on 21 August 2011, their first victory at the County Ground for 38 years. On 29 October 2011, during a home game against Port Vale, with the game at 1–1, Leven intercepted the ball inside his own half and lobbed the opposition keeper from the halfway line, which turned out to be the winning goalOxford Utd 2–1 Port ValeBBC Sport and one of the best ever goals scored at the Kassam Stadium.
Retirement While a free agent, Leven was linked with Paul Ince's Blackpool; however, in August 2014, he signed for non-league Jarrow Roofing BCA. Leven retired soon after joining Roofing at the age of 29, having struggled throughout his career with knee problems.
Coaching career During 2014-15, Leven worked as an academy coach at Middlesbrough.Peter Leven says Oxford United have signed an 'unbelievable talent', oxfordmail.co.uk, 28 November 2014Peter Leven details his remarkable coaching journey which has led him to Belarus, dailyrecord.co.uk, 29 April 2018 Leven was appointed to a coaching position at Scottish Premier league club Kilmarnock in June 2015, joining the club as an assistant manager. He left the club on 1 October 2017, when manager Lee McCulloch also departed.
In April 2018, joined Belarusian club Dynamo Brest. Initially employed as head of the academy and B team, he was promoted quickly to first-team assistant manager in August 2018, with an emphasis on overseeing tactics and training under head coach Marcel Lička.heraldscotland.com, heraldscotland.com, 9 March 2019 Brest won the 2019 Belarusian Premier League and two super cups, only losing one game in 36 matches all season and qualified for UEFA Champions League football, breaking a long period of dominance by BATE Borisov. Leven left the club in March 2020.
After leaving Belarus, Leven took up a coaching position at Russian club Orenburg, again assisting Lička. Orenburg would gain promotion to the Russian Premier League after winning the relegation play-offs.
Leven joined the coaching staff at Aberdeen in June 2023. He was made caretaker manager after Barry Robson was sacked, taking charge of one game (a 1-1 draw with Celtic) before Neil Warnock was appointed as interim manager. Leven reverted to being the first team coach under Warnock, but was again placed in caretaker charge a month later. After a good run of results, and a shootout loss to Celtic in the Scottish Cup, Leven reverted to a coaching role after the appointment of Jimmy Thelin. Leven again served as caretaker manager after Thelin left the club in January 2026, but left the club himself after Stephen Robinson became manager in March 2026.
Rotherham United acted swiftly following the departure of previous assistant manager Dale Tonge on Tuesday 24th March, with Lee Clark identifying Leven as the top candidate to take the role moving forward.
Career statistics All stats from soccerbase
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsRangers2000–01Scottish Premier League00000000002001–02Scottish Premier League00000000002002–03Scottish Premier League00000000002003–04Scottish Premier League0000000000 Total0000000000Kilmarnock2004–05Scottish Premier League3243011003652005–06Scottish Premier League60002000802006–07Scottish Premier League271004000311 Total655307100756Chesterfield2007–08League Two425101000445 Total425101000445Milton Keynes Dons2008–09League One421010100044102009–10League One3143000604042010–11League One408203010468 Total1132260407013022Oxford United2011–12League Two3961010104262012–13League Two204410011256 Total59105110216712 Career totals279421511319131645
A. The "FA Cup" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in the FA Cup and Scottish Cup. B. The "League Cup" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in the Football League Cup and Scottish League Cup. C. The "Other" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in the Football League Trophy.
Honours League One Sports Writers' Player of the Year: 2011 Milton Keynes Dons Football Writers' Player of the Year: 2010–11
References
External links Peter Leven player profile at mkdons.com