David Pleat
Encyclopedia
David John Pleat is an English football
player turned manager and sports commentator.
He is remembered by his contemporaries primarily for his career as manager of Tottenham Hotspur
and Luton Town
football clubs, and for an oft-televised clip of him running onto the pitch in 1983 to celebrate after a last-minute goal by Raddy Antic
against Manchester City
prevented Pleat's team Luton Town
from being relegated from Division One
.
(1962–64), which was his local club. From there he moved on to Luton Town (1964–67), Shrewsbury Town
(1967–68) and Exeter City
(1968–70), where he once played outside left against the team that he was later to manage, Tottenham Hotspur. His playing career ended with a stint at Peterborough United
(1970–71), after which he turned to coaching and management.
He made 185 Football League appearances for his five clubs, scoring 26 goals.
Borough in 1971.
to the First Division and were renowned for playing attacking and attractive football. Many of that team would receive international recognition, including defender Mal Donaghy
(Northern Ireland
), midfielders Ricky Hill
(England
) and forwards Brian Stein
, Paul Walsh
and Mick Harford
(all England). Luton never reached the FA Cup final whilst he was manager, though the team that won the 1988 Littlewoods Cup under Ray Harford
, beating Arsenal 3–2 in the final, was largely his team of the early and mid-1980s. They were beaten 2–1 by Everton in the semi-final in 1985, in extra time, and in the quarter-final again by Everton in 1986. (For more information, see History of Luton Town F.C. (1970–present)
)
. His earliest changes at the club were to bring in Nico Claesen
and Richard Gough
, the latter of whom he paired with Gary Mabbutt
in defence, moving Paul Allen
into midfield. During his stint as manager, Tottenham Hotspur reached third place in the First Division, reached the FA Cup
final, and the semi-final of the Football League Cup
in the 1986–87 season. Glenn Moore, writing in The Independent
in 1995, described the play during Pleat's stint as Tottenham Hotspur manager as "some of the best attacking football of the last two decades". During this season, he played with just one striker - Clive Allen
, who scored 49 goals in all competitions. Pleat's employment as manager of Tottenham came to an end when he was dismissed due to "disclosures about his private life". The board of Tottenham Hotspur also wanted to bring back Terry Venables
as manager, since he had also become available.
for three years, Luton Town again, and Sheffield Wednesday
.
, were to add Mick Walker
and Danny Bergara to the youth management and Mark Pembridge
and Marc Degryse
to the first team. His first season at Hillsborough
was frustrating, as they finished 15th in the Premier League – their lowest finish in five seasons since promotion.
The club won its first four fixtures of the 1996–97 season, against Aston Villa, Leeds United, Newcastle United and Leicester City, earning Pleat the Manager-of-the-Month Award for August 1996 as the Owls topped the Premier League, but their title hopes were short-lived as they failed to maintain this form and finished seventh in the final table. Pleat was sacked in November 1997 with the Owls battling relegation.
in 1998. In September 2003, after the sacking of Glenn Hoddle
, he took over as caretaker manager for Tottenham Hotspur, a position that he held until the end of the season. This was the third of three occasions in which he had been caretaker manager for Tottenham Hotspur. He had previously been caretaker manager in 1998, before George Graham
became manager, during which time the team had four wins, two draws, and one defeat.
and scouting potential signings. In August 2009, Pleat had more time available, and was in discussion with the Forest chief executive about expanding his role. On the 28th September 2011, Pleat left his role, following the disbanding of the much criticized acquisition panel.
with responsibility for development of young English players.
. He spent several years working for ITV as an commentator, but left in August 2009. He is a regular co-commentator on Radio 5 Live
.
In 2011, Pleat is commentator for ESPN UK broadcasts.
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player turned manager and sports commentator.
He is remembered by his contemporaries primarily for his career as manager of Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
and Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
football clubs, and for an oft-televised clip of him running onto the pitch in 1983 to celebrate after a last-minute goal by Raddy Antic
Radomir Antic
Radomir Antić is a Serbian former football defender and former football manager for the Serbian national team.Following a 17-year playing career he found his true calling in coaching....
against Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
prevented Pleat's team Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
from being relegated from Division One
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
.
Club career
Pleat's first club as a senior player was Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
(1962–64), which was his local club. From there he moved on to Luton Town (1964–67), Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town F.C.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...
(1967–68) and Exeter City
Exeter City F.C.
Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...
(1968–70), where he once played outside left against the team that he was later to manage, Tottenham Hotspur. His playing career ended with a stint at Peterborough United
Peterborough United F.C.
Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...
(1970–71), after which he turned to coaching and management.
He made 185 Football League appearances for his five clubs, scoring 26 goals.
Management career
His first coaching position was for Southern League team NuneatonNuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
Borough in 1971.
Luton Town
From there he went to the coaching staff at Luton Town. In January 1978 he was appointed manager of Luton Town. During his nine years as manager there the side was promoted from the Football League Second DivisionFootball League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
to the First Division and were renowned for playing attacking and attractive football. Many of that team would receive international recognition, including defender Mal Donaghy
Mal Donaghy
Malachy Martin "Mal" Donaghy is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Luton Town.-Club career:...
(Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
), midfielders Ricky Hill
Ricky Hill
Ricky Hill is a former English footballer and the current head coach for Tampa Bay in the second division North American Soccer League.He was born in Paddington.-Playing career:...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) and forwards Brian Stein
Brian Stein
Brian Stein is a South African born former English footballer. He is the older brother of former Luton Town, Chelsea and Stoke City striker Mark Stein; another brother, Ed Stein, played for Barnet....
, Paul Walsh
Paul Walsh
Paul Anthony Walsh is a retired English footballer.Walsh was a diminutive and pacy centre forward who shot to fame in the 1980s during spells with Charlton, Luton, Liverpool and Tottenham.-Charlton Athletic:...
and Mick Harford
Mick Harford
Michael Gordon "Mick" Harford , is an English former football player turned manager. He is former manager of Rotherham and Luton Town and has also been caretaker manager of Nottingham Forest and QPR...
(all England). Luton never reached the FA Cup final whilst he was manager, though the team that won the 1988 Littlewoods Cup under Ray Harford
Ray Harford
Raymond Thomas Harford was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation.-Playing career:...
, beating Arsenal 3–2 in the final, was largely his team of the early and mid-1980s. They were beaten 2–1 by Everton in the semi-final in 1985, in extra time, and in the quarter-final again by Everton in 1986. (For more information, see History of Luton Town F.C. (1970–present)
History of Luton Town F.C. (1970–present)
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Rising back to the top flight of English football for a season in 1974–75, the remainder of the decade was spent in the second tier...
)
Tottenham Hotspur
In 1986 Pleat was appointed to manager of Tottenham Hotspur. He brought along with him from Luton Mitchell ThomasMitchell Thomas
Mitchell Thomas is a retired English football defender. Whilst at Tottenham Hotspur he started in the 1987 FA Cup Final.-Playing career:...
. His earliest changes at the club were to bring in Nico Claesen
Nico Claesen
Nicolaas "Nico" Pieter Claesen is a former Belgian football player who works as head coach of RFC Liège.-Time at Tottenham:...
and Richard Gough
Richard Gough
Charles Richard Gough is a former Scottish football central defender who enjoyed great success as captain of Rangers. He also played for Scotland 61 times and had a brief spell as manager of Livingston...
, the latter of whom he paired with Gary Mabbutt
Gary Mabbutt
Gary Mabbutt MBE is an English former professional footballer who made more than 600 appearances in the Football League and Premier League playing for Bristol Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur, and won 16 caps for the England national team. He was most regularly seen in central defence but was a...
in defence, moving Paul Allen
Paul Allen (footballer)
Paul Kevin Allen is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, Luton Town, Stoke City, Swindon Town, Bristol City and Millwall in the 1980s and 1990s...
into midfield. During his stint as manager, Tottenham Hotspur reached third place in the First Division, reached the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
final, and the semi-final of the Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
in the 1986–87 season. Glenn Moore, writing in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
in 1995, described the play during Pleat's stint as Tottenham Hotspur manager as "some of the best attacking football of the last two decades". During this season, he played with just one striker - Clive Allen
Clive Allen
Clive Darren Allen is a retired English footballer, a prolific scorer for a number of clubs.Allen is the son of ex-Tottenham Hotspur forward Les Allen, who was a member of the legendary team which won the First Division title and FA Cup "double" in 1961...
, who scored 49 goals in all competitions. Pleat's employment as manager of Tottenham came to an end when he was dismissed due to "disclosures about his private life". The board of Tottenham Hotspur also wanted to bring back Terry Venables
Terry Venables
Terence Frederick "Terry" Venables , often referred to as "El Tel", is a former football player and manager, as well as being a media pundit. During the 1960s and 70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, and gained two caps for England...
as manager, since he had also become available.
Leicester City and Luton Town
Pleat went on to manage Leicester CityLeicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
for three years, Luton Town again, and Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
.
Sheffield Wednesday
His first actions as manager for Sheffield Wednesday, a position which he took over from Trevor FrancisTrevor Francis
Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...
, were to add Mick Walker
Mick Walker
Mick Walker was an English football manager. He was manager of Notts County, succeeding Neil Warnock in January 1993. He was fired in September 1994.-References:...
and Danny Bergara to the youth management and Mark Pembridge
Mark Pembridge
Mark Anthony Pembridge is a former footballer whose favoured position was the left side of midfield. He won numerous caps for Wales. He is currently a coach at the academy for Fulham.-Club career:...
and Marc Degryse
Marc Degryse
Marc Gabriel Degryse , nicknamed Le Lutin d'Ardooie and The Little One, is a former Belgian footballer, who played as a forward.-Club career:...
to the first team. His first season at Hillsborough
Hillsborough Stadium
Hillsborough Stadium is the home of Sheffield Wednesday football club, Sheffield, England. Football has been played at the ground since it was opened on 2 September 1899, when Wednesday moved from their original ground at Olive Grove. Today it is a 39,812 capacity all-seater stadium, making it the...
was frustrating, as they finished 15th in the Premier League – their lowest finish in five seasons since promotion.
The club won its first four fixtures of the 1996–97 season, against Aston Villa, Leeds United, Newcastle United and Leicester City, earning Pleat the Manager-of-the-Month Award for August 1996 as the Owls topped the Premier League, but their title hopes were short-lived as they failed to maintain this form and finished seventh in the final table. Pleat was sacked in November 1997 with the Owls battling relegation.
Back to Tottenham
He returned to Tottenham Hotspur as Director of FootballDirector of football
"Director of football" is a term describing a senior management figure at a football club, most commonly used in Europe. The exact nature of the role is often unclear and extremely variable and causes much debate in the sports media...
in 1998. In September 2003, after the sacking of Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle is an English former footballer and manager who played as an attacking midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, AS Monaco, Chelsea and Swindon Town and at international level for England....
, he took over as caretaker manager for Tottenham Hotspur, a position that he held until the end of the season. This was the third of three occasions in which he had been caretaker manager for Tottenham Hotspur. He had previously been caretaker manager in 1998, before George Graham
George Graham (footballer)
George Graham is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success at Arsenal, as a player in the 1970s and then as manager from 1986 until 1995.-Early life:...
became manager, during which time the team had four wins, two draws, and one defeat.
Nottingham Forest
In August 2006, Pleat returned to his first and home club, Nottingham Forest, this time as a football consultant, a job which included advising Forest manager Colin CalderwoodColin Calderwood
Colin Calderwood is a Scottish football player and coach. In November 2011 he was appointed as Chris Hughton's assistant manager at Birmingham City....
and scouting potential signings. In August 2009, Pleat had more time available, and was in discussion with the Forest chief executive about expanding his role. On the 28th September 2011, Pleat left his role, following the disbanding of the much criticized acquisition panel.
Marbella
In 2008, Pleat took on an advisory role with UD MarbellaUD Marbella
Unión Deportiva Marbella is a Spanish football team based in Marbella, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1997, it currently plays in 3ª - Group 9, holding home matches at Estadio Municipal de Marbella, with a capacity of 9,000 seats....
with responsibility for development of young English players.
Media career
Pleat writes a regular column for The Guardian newspaper, primarily exploring the tactical side of recent matches, and contributes articles to the Daily MailDaily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. He spent several years working for ITV as an commentator, but left in August 2009. He is a regular co-commentator on Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
.
In 2011, Pleat is commentator for ESPN UK broadcasts.
Further reading
- Barry J. Hugman "The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–1998" ISBN 1-85291-585-4