There's nothing David Pleat loves more than to talk football. "Brown, Baker, Henry, Blanchflower, Norman, Mackay, Dyson, White, Smith, Allen, Jones that was the 1961 Tottenham team, the best Tottenham team I ever saw," he says, reeling off the names in a second, revealing his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.
We're meeting the former Spurs boss and Luton Town legend behind enemy lines - in Watford, home to the Hatters' perennial rivals, at the Hilton. "I sold Matt Jackson from Luton to Everton on that sofa in 1991," he chuckles, pointing. "He only played six games for me but we sat down for three hours, and the price kept going up and up." In fact, the 79-year-old lives nearby.
He was born in Nottingham, to a family of Polish and Latvian descent, before entering football as first a player, then a manager, director of football, co-commentator and scout. His new autobiography, Just One More Goal, regales an eventful, varied career.
Pleat almost lost everything when he left Spurs following lurid newspaper allegations back in 1987. In meeting FourFourTwo today, he addresses those and a successful career that also featured Eric Morecambe, Alan Sugar, Paolo Di Canio, hyenas, riots and a famous pitch invasion of his own...
What was it like to become Nottingham Forest's youngest ever player, aged 17, and the youngest player from any club to score on debut in a Football League game?
Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av FourFourTwo UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av FourFourTwo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Over the Top with Brian Clough - The legendary former Derby and Nottingham Forest manager was a columnist for FourFourTwo from 2001 until his death in 2004 at the age of 69 - not all of his forecasts came true, though he was never short of an opinion...
The legendary former Derby and Nottingham Forest manager was a columnist for FourFourTwo from 2001 until his death in 2004 at the age of 69 - not all of his forecasts came true, though he was never short of an opinion...
"THE PLAYERS DIDN'T SEE KEVIN KEEGAN'S 'MELTDOWN' AS ANYTHING NEGATIVE. WE LOVED HIM FOR HIS PASSION"
The Geordie recalls King Kev's rant, shares his love for Ossie Ardiles and reveals what it's like to cross the Tyne-Wear divide
"HODDLE HAD BEEN PLAYING FOR MONACO UNDER WENGER, SO WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT WHEN HE JOINED SWINDON HE WAS LIGHT-YEARS AHEAD!"
The tireless winger opens up on playing in his dad's shadow and making the wrong kind of headlines at Sunderland...
"I'M PROUD TO BE THE FIRST AFRICAN IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE - BUT LOOK WHO CAME LATER"
FFT chats to the three Boy's A Bit Special stars of Issue 1: first, a humble hotshot on rejecting Arsenal and being 'Nuddy'
AROUND THE GROUNDS
Rangers' in-form keeper tells FFT he has his sights set on a Three Lions recall
WHY MESSI'S ARGENTINA HAD TO GET 'WORSE' TO CONQUER WORLD
The Albiceleste didn't have their most talented squad in 2022, and their star wasn't at his absolute peak - but 4-4-2 helped them to win anyway...
WHY 1999 WAS THE FINEST MOMENT FOR 4-4-2... AND SIR ALEX FERGUSON
Manchester United swept to a famous Treble thanks to the management skills of their legendary boss - and a formation that suited them perfectly
HOW THE 4-4-2 BECAME BRITISH FOOTBALL'S MOST ICONIC FORMATION
A system of playing inspired the name for this very magazine - on these shores, for numerous reasons, it's football heritage
FINDING DIEGO
A little over a year before his untimely death at the age of 60, Diego Maradona was managing Mexican second-tier side Dorados de Sinaloa - FourFourTwo went deep into drug cartel country to track him down
RESPECT
That's what women's football demands more than anything. Its status has grown exponentially during FourFourTwo's lifetime, but finally the long and arduous battle for recognition is starting to pay dividends