David Pleat

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David Pleat
Personal information
Full name	David Julian Pleat
Date of birth	January 15, 1945 (1945-01-15) (age 64)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5'8
Playing position	Winger
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1962–1964 1964–1967 1967–1968 1968–1970 1970–1971	Nottingham Forest Luton Town Shrewsbury Town Exeter City Peterborough United	006 0(1) 070 0(9) 012 0(1) 068 (14) 028 0(2)
Teams managed
1978–1986 1986–1987 1987–1991 1991–1995 1995–1997 1998 2001 2003–2004	Luton Town Tottenham Hotspur Leicester City Luton Town Sheffield Wednesday Tottenham Hotspur (caretaker) Tottenham Hotspur (caretaker) Tottenham Hotspur (caretaker)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

David Julian Pleat (born January 15, 1945 in Nottingham) is an English former football manager and player, who now provides commentary for ITV and occasional commentary for BBC Radio Five Live. He has managed Luton Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday.

Pleat is one of a handful of British Jews to have made it into top flight management in English football.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managerial career 2.1 Luton Town (1978–1986) 2.2 Tottenham Hotspur (1986–1987) 2.3 Leicester City (1988–1991) 2.4 Luton Town (1991–1995) 2.5 Sheffield Wednesday (1995–1997) 2.6 Tottenham Hotspur (1998–2004) 2.7 National coaching 2.8 Career qualifications and awards 2.9 Committees and consultancy 3 Media career 4 Managerial stats 5 References 6 External links

Playing career

In his youth, Pleat played cricket for Nottinghamshire Schools and Nottinghamshire County Youth teams.

In footballing terms he was an England Youth and Schoolboy International (1960-1963) before beginning his professional career at home town club Nottingham Forest in 1962 when, at the time of his debut, he was Forest's youngest ever player. He later had spells with Luton Town, Shrewsbury Town, Exeter City, Peterborough United and Nuneaton Borough. His playing career ended at the age of 28 due to back problems.

Managerial career

Luton Town (1978–1986)

David Pleat moved into management at the age of 27 as player manager of Nuneaton Borough in the old Southern League. In 1978, after a period as reserve team coach, he took charge of Second Division strugglers Luton Town. In his fourth season as manager, 1981-82, Luton won promotion as champions to the First Division and remained there for the next ten years.

Tottenham Hotspur (1986–1987)

David Pleat's second managerial job was with Tottenham Hotspur, commencing in the summer of 1986 when he left Luton Town after eight years in charge and moved to White Hart Lane to replace Peter Shreeves.

1986-87 was a good season for Spurs. They finished third in the First Division and reached the FA Cup final, where they faced Coventry City. Tottenham had won all seven of their previous finals, and Coventry had never appeared in a final before, so they were hot favourites to win. But a 3-2 defeat meant that Tottenham ended the season trophyless. Pleat left Tottenham the following October for what was described as footballing reasons, though it was suspected that it was more related to his conviction for kerb-crawling.^[1]

Leicester City (1988–1991)

David Pleat's third managerial job, at Leicester City, was far from successful. Amongst the promotion favourites when he became manager at Christmas of 1987, by the time he was sacked in January 1991 they were fighting against relegation from the Second Division for the first time in their history. This was largely due to Pleat's inability to communicate his over-elaborate ideas and tactics to the players combined with an unfortunate penchant for playing people out of position while simultaneously alienating large sections of the crowd. Eventually the battle against relegation was narrowly won by his successor Gordon Lee.

Luton Town (1991–1995)

In May 1991, David Pleat was named as Luton Town manager for the second time. Their fortunes had slipped dramatically in the previous three seasons, when relegation had been avoided on the very last day of each season. Pleat seemed like the man to secure Luton a place clear of relegation, but instead they were relegated on the last day of the season after ten years in the First Division, missed out on a place in the new FA Premier League and have not been in the top division since. They did reach the FA Cup semi finals in 1994, but failed to make an impact in Division One and Pleat left the club in June 1995 to take charge of Sheffield Wednesday.

Sheffield Wednesday (1995–1997)

David Pleat's first season as Sheffield Wednesday manager was frustrating. He had hoped to mount a challenge for a UEFA Cup place, but instead they were involved in a relegation battle right up to the very last day of the season and finished 15th in the Premiership. The Wednesday support at West Ham on that day spent the game calling for Pleat's sacking and the return of Owls legend Chris Waddle who Pleat had allowed to leave earlier in the season. Pleat had also lost favour in selling David Hirst to Southampton FC. Although subsequent injuries to Hirst meant it was probably a reasonable business decision. Not even the addition of expensive foreign players like Paolo di Canio, Regi Blinker, Orlando Trustfull, Darko Kovacevic, Dejan Stefanovic and Benito Carbone could halt Wednesday's decline.

1996-97 was better. Wednesday were top of the Premiership table after winning their first four fixtures of the 1996-97 season, and Pleat was named Premiership Manager of the Month for August 1996. But they were unable to mount a serious title challenge and finished seventh in the final table, not even enough for a UEFA Cup place. Pleat was sacked in October 1997 with Wednesday battling relegation once again. The sacking came two days after a 6-1 thumping at Old Trafford.

Tottenham Hotspur (1998–2004)

David Pleat returned to Tottenham Hotspur as Director of Football in 1998, and had several periods as caretaker manager, the last of which was in the 2003–04 season. Tottenham secured a 14th place finish.

National coaching

In 1994, David Pleat was appointed the manager/coach of an English Leagues' Representative XI that beat an Italian League XI in Ancona. He has served on the faculty of Football Association coaching courses.

Career qualifications and awards

Pleat's qualifications include the Football Association Preliminary Coaching Award (1964), the full Football Association Coaching Certificate in 1968 (youngest recipient at time) and a recertification as the Football Association Coaching Diploma in 2003. Pleat has won nine manager-of-the-month awards, was manager of the year in 1981-1982 with Luton and was awarded the Canon Sportsman of the Year Award in 1984.

Committees and consultancy

He is the longest serving member of the League Managers' Association (LMA) Committee, joining in 1978 and has served as its chairman. He has been the LMA's representative at player transfer tribunals and Football League Disciplinary Committees. He was the Football Association arbiter in the case of Michael Hughes v Wimbledon FC (2002). Other cases where he has been a professional expert include Birmingham City v Leeds United (postponement appeal) and he has recently given expert testimony for the Medical Protection Society in relation to knee surgery and football. He was an independent witness to the Parliamentary Committee with the remit of discussing the future of football within the United Kingdom. He served on the FA Committee discussing the usage of artificial pitches within the English Leagues. He has represented the English Leagues at the European Symposium on Youth Football in Switzerland, 2000. He was the LMA representative at the FIFA World Cup in Spain.

Towards the end of the 2004–05 season Pleat returned to football, working for Portsmouth in a temporary consultancy role under then manager Alain Perrin.^[2] This role ended at the close of the season. In August 2006, Pleat begun a similar role at Nottingham Forest, alongside Forest manager Colin Calderwood.^[3] The most recent movement in Pleat's long and illustrious career takes him to Spain as an occasional football advisor at UD Marbella, joining fellow Englishman Carl Cort at the Spanish lower league outfit. ^[4]. Expect several tall, strong players to join the club in the near future.

Media career

Pleat started working as a cub sports journalist at the end of his playing career working with London Weekend Television, before joining the BBC where he was a co-commentator for much of the 1990s, before returning to ITV, where he gained a more prominent role following the sacking of Ron Atkinson. Other spells as an expert summarizer included: "The Big Match" (LWT); "Midweek Soccer Special" (Anglia TV) and "The Boot Room" (Sky TV). Since 2001 he has co-commentated mostly for midweek Champions League matches on ITV. Currently, he also commentates on Premier League overseas matches for Trans World International.

For television, he has also commented on a number of FIFA World Cups: Mexico (1986, ITV); Italy (1990, Eurosport); France (1998, BBC); Korea/Japan (2002, ITV); Germany (2006, ITV). There are similar commentaries for European Championships, for example the UEFA Euro 2008 Tournament in Austria/Switzerland. Pleat has quite frequently mixed up the names of well known players such as Pascal Chimbonda (Pasqual Shimbomba), Jermaine Jenas (Jermaine Jaynus or Jennas), Yossi Benayoun (Yossi Benyaboon) and Teddy Sheringham (Terry Sheddingham). He often refers to his time in management and speaks highly of players he has signed for clubs, notably Tottenham. There are currently several internet petitions to have him removed from football commentary.

As a radio commentator, he has regularly worked since 1980 on Radio 2 and subsequently Radio 5 in the UK. He was radio co-commentator for the FIFA World Cup in the USA in 1994.

Currently, Pleat writes a column in The Guardian newspaper, but has also written articles for other periodicals including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Daily Mail.

He has been an after dinner speaker since the early 1980s

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Luton Town		January 25, 1978	May 16, 1986	375	146	125	104	38.93
Tottenham Hotspur		May 16, 1986	October 23, 1987	71	39	21	11	54.92
Leicester City		December 24, 1987	January 29, 1991	153	49	60	44	32.02
Luton Town		June 6, 1991	June 14, 1995	202	55	81	66	27.22
Sheffield Wednesday		June 14, 1995	November 3, 1997	102	32	40	30	31.37
Tottenham Hotspur		September 7, 1998	October 1, 1998	6	3	1	2	50.00
Tottenham Hotspur		March 16, 2001	April 2, 2001	2	1	1	0	50.00
Tottenham Hotspur		September 21, 2003	June 3, 2004	39	16	16	7	41.02

He is a nonce^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• David Pleat management career stats at Soccerbase
• David Pleat profile from the League Managers Association

v • d • e Luton Town F.C. – Managers Thompson (1925) · McCartneys (1927–29) · Kays (1929–31) · Wightmans (1931–35) · Liddell (1936–38) · McBain (1938–39) · Martin (1939–47) · Duncan (1947–58) · Owen (1959–60) · Bartram (1960–62) · Crompton (1962) · Harvey (1962–64) · Watkinsc (1964–65) · Martin (1965–66) · Brown (1966–68) · Stock (1968–72) · Haslam (1972–78) · Pleat (1978–86) · Moore (1986–1987) · R. Harford (1987–1990) · Mancinic (1990) · Ryan (1990–91) · Pleat (1991–95) · Westley (1995) · Lawrence (1995–2000) · Hill (2000) · Fuccillo (2000–01) · Kinnear (2001–03) · Newell (2003–07) · Steinc (2007) · Blackwell (2007–08) · M. Harford (2008–Present) (s) secretary (c) caretaker

v • d • e Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – Managers Brettell (1898–1899) · Cameron (1899–1907) · Kirkham (1907–1908) · Turner (1908–1912s) · McWilliam (1913–1927) · Minter (1927–1930) · Smith (1930–1935) · Hardinge (1935c) · Tresadern (1935–1938) · McWilliam (1938–1942) · Turner (1942–1946) · Hulme (1946–1949) · Rowe (1949–1955) · Anderson (1955–1958) · Nicholson (1958–1974) · Neill (1974–1976) · Burkinshaw (1976–1984) · Shreeves (1984–1986) · Pleat (1986–1987) · Hartley & Livermore (1987c) · Venables (1987–1991) · Shreeves (1991–1992) · Livermore & Clemence (1992–1993) · Ardiles (1993–1994) · Perryman (1994c) · Francis (1994–1997) · Hughton (1997c) · Gross (1997–1998) · Pleat (1998c) · Graham (1998–2001) · Pleat (2001c) · Hoddle (2001–2003) · Pleat (2003c) · Santini (2004) · Jol (2004–2007) · Allen (2007c) · Ramos (2007–08) · Redknapp (2008–) (c) caretaker (s) secretary-manager

v • d • e Leicester City F.C. – Managers Clark (1896–97) · Johnson (1898–1907) · Blessington (1907–09) · Aitken (1909–11) · Bartlett (1912–14) · Hodge (1919–26) · Orr (1926–32) · Hodge (1932–34) · Lochhead (1934–36) · Womack (1936–39) · Bromilow (1939–45) · Mather (1945–46) · Duncan (1946–49) · Bullock (1949–55) · Halliday (1955–58) · Gillies (1959–68) · O'Farrell (1968–71) · Bloomfield (1971–77) · McLintock (1977–78) · McFarlane (1978) · Wallace (1978–82) · Milne (1982–86) · Hamilton (1986–87) · Pleat (1987–91) · Lee (1991) · Little (1991–94) · MacDonald (1994) · McGhee (1994–95) · O'Neill (1995–2000) · Taylor (2000–01) · Parker (2001) · Bassett (2001–02) · Adams (2002–04) · Bassett (2004) · Levein (2004–06) · Kelly (2006–07) · Worthington (2007) · Allen (2007) · Beaglehole, Rudkin & Stowell (2007) · Megson (2007) · Burrows & Taggart (2007) · Holloway (2007–08) · Pearson (2008–)

v • d • e Sheffield Wednesday F.C. – Managers Dickinson (1891–1920) · R. Brown (1920–1933) · Walker (1933–1937) · McMullan (1937–1942) · Taylor (1942–1958) · Catterick (1958–1961) · Buckingham (1961–1964) · A. Brown (1964–1968) · Marshall (1968–1969) · Williams (1969–1971) · Dooley (1971–1973) · Burtenshaw (1974–1975) · Ashurst (1975–1977) · Charlton (1977–1983) · Setters (caretaker) (1983) · Wilkinson (1983–1988) · Eustace (1988–1989) · Atkinson (1989–1991) · Francis (1991–1995) · Pleat (1995–1997) · Shreeves (caretaker) (1997) · Atkinson (1997–1998) · Wilson (1998–2000) · Shreeves (caretaker) (2000) · Jewell (2000–2001) · Shreeves (2001) · Yorath (2001–2002) · Green (caretaker) (2002) · Turner (2002–2004) · Smith (caretaker) (2004) · Sturrock (2004–2006) · McAuley (caretaker) (2006) · Laws (2006–)