David Pleat

David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as manager of Tottenham Hotspur (three of which were as caretaker manager).

Early life

Pleat was born in Nottingham, England, and is of Jewish descent. His father anglicised the family name from Plotz.

Playing career

As a winger, Pleat represented England at schoolboy level. His first club as a senior player was Nottingham Forest (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.

Managerial career

Nuneaton Borough

His first coaching position was for Southern League team Nuneaton Borough in 1971.

Luton Town

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From there he joined the coaching staff at Luton Town. In January 1978 he was appointed manager of the club. During his nine years as manager of Luton Town the side were promoted from the Football League Second Division to the First Division and gained a reputation for playing attacking and attractive football, peaking at ninth place in the league in 1986, his final year in charge. A number of players in Pleat's team would receive international recognition, including defender Mal Donaghy (Northern Ireland), midfielder Ricky Hill and forwards Brian Stein, Paul Walsh and Mick Harford (all England).

In 1983, Luton came close to being relegated from Division One, but reached safety after a late goal by Radomir Antić against Manchester City in the final game of the season.

Luton came close to reaching the FA Cup final in 1985 under Pleat. They were beaten 2–1 by Everton in the semi-final in extra time at Villa Park. Luton also lost in the quarter-final against Everton the following year. Although Luton did not manage to reach a Cup final during Pleat's time in charge, the team that won the 1988 League Cup under Ray Harford, beating Arsenal 3–2 in the final, was largely Pleat's team of the early and mid-1980s.

Tottenham Hotspur

In May 1986, Pleat was appointed manager of Tottenham Hotspur. He brought Mitchell Thomas with him from Luton. His earliest change at the club was to bring in Nico Claesen and Richard Gough, the latter of whom he paired with Gary Mabbutt in defence, moving Paul Allen into midfield. In the 1986-87 season, his only full season as manager, Tottenham Hotspur finished third in the First Division, and reached the FA Cup final and the semi-final of the Football League Cup. Pleat received the 'Manager of the Month' awards in both January and February 1987. Glenn Moore, writing in ''The Independent'' in 1995, described the play during Pleat's stint as manager of Spurs 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. Spurs had been in serious contention for all three major English trophies that season, although they ended the season without winning any of them.

Pleat's employment as manager of Tottenham came to an end in October 1987 when he was dismissed due to disclosures about his private life. Newspaper revelations that Pleat had been cautioned by police three times for kerb-crawling created publicity that forced him to leave Spurs. The board of Tottenham Hotspur was also keen to bring Terry Venables to the club as manager, who had recently become available.

Leicester City and return to Luton Town

Pleat made a quick return to management with Leicester City, who had just been relegated from the First Division, and lasted more than three years at Filbert Street before he was dismissed in January 1991, with Leicester still yet to win promotion to the First Division and looking more likely to be relegated to the Third Division, never finishing above mid table while Pleat was in charge. He returned to Luton Town in June 1991 for a second spell as manager of the club. They were relegated at the end of his first season back at Kenilworth Road, missing out on a place in the new FA Premier League, but the club's board kept faith in him. Despite dismal form in the new Division One, they did reach the FA Cup semi-final in 1994, losing 2–0 to Chelsea.

Sheffield Wednesday

Pleat left Luton to join Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1995. His first actions as manager for Wednesday, a position which he took over from Trevor Francis, 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 Premier League Manager of the Month for August 1996 as the Owls topped the Premier League. They eventually finished seventh in the final table. They started the following season dismally and Pleat was sacked in November 1997 with relegation looking a real possibility.

Back to Tottenham

He returned to Tottenham Hotspur as Director of Football in 1998. In September 2003, after the sacking of Glenn Hoddle, he took over as caretaker manager, 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 the club; he had previously fulfilled the role in 1998, before George Graham 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 new Forest manager Colin Calderwood 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 28 September 2011, Pleat left his role, following the disbanding of the much criticised acquisition panel.

Marbella

In 2008, Pleat took on an advisory role with UD Marbella with responsibility for development of young English players.

Media career

Pleat has written a regular column for ''The Guardian'' newspaper since 2004, primarily exploring the tactical side of recent matches, and contributes articles to the '' Daily Mail''.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Tottenham Hotspur
* 1986–87 FA Cup runners-up
Individual
* Football League First Division, Manager of the Month : January 1987, February 1987
* Premier League Manager of the Month: August 1996

References

External links

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Further reading

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* Barry J. Hugman "The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–1998"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pleat, David
1945 births
Living people
Footballers from Nottingham
English footballers
Jewish footballers
English Jews
Association football wingers
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Luton Town F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. players
Exeter City F.C. players
Peterborough United F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
English Football League managers
Premier League managers
Luton Town F.C. managers
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. managers
Leicester City F.C. managers
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers
English association football commentators
Nuneaton Borough F.C. managers
Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff