David Pleat
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David John Pleat | ||
| Date of birth | 15 January 1945 | ||
| Place of birth | Nottingham, England | ||
| Playing position | Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1962–1964 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | (1) |
| 1964–1967 | Luton Town | 70 | (9) |
| 1967–1968 | Shrewsbury Town | 12 | (1) |
| 1968–1970 | Exeter City | 69 | (14) |
| 1970–1971 | Peterborough United | 28 | (2) |
| National team | |||
| England Schoolboys | |||
| England Youth | |||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1971–1977 | Nuneaton Borough | ||
| 1978–1986 | Luton Town | ||
| 1986–1987 | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| 1987–1991 | Leicester City | ||
| 1991–1995 | Luton Town | ||
| 1995–1997 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| 1998 | Tottenham Hotspur (Caretaker) | ||
| 2001 | Tottenham Hotspur (Caretaker) | ||
| 2003–2004 | Tottenham Hotspur (Caretaker) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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David John Pleat (born Nottingham, England on 15 January 1945) 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 Antić against Manchester City prevented Pleat's team Luton Town from being relegated from Division One.
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.
His first coaching position was for Southern League team Nuneaton Borough in 1971.
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).
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