David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a former English footballer, who played in midfield.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

Platt signed for Manchester United as an apprentice on leaving school in 1982. He signed professional at the start of the 1984-85 season but was given a free transfer in January 1985 as a result of a staff-cutting exercise by manager Ron Atkinson.

Dario Gradi then signed Platt for Crewe Alexandra in the Fourth Division. He quickly established himself as a strong-running, free-scoring midfielder. In 1988, he signed for Aston Villa, and in his first season at Villa Park he helped the club achieve promotion to the First Division, one season after they had been relegated.

He was a frequent goalscorer for Villa, and in 1989-90 took them to the brink of the league title. Although they had to settle for runners-up spot behind Liverpool, Platt was voted PFA Player of the Year.

[edit] International breakthrough

Platt was given his first England cap by Bobby Robson in a friendly against Italy in 1989. When Bobby Robson named his 22 players for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Platt was on the bench for all of England's group games, but was sent on as an extra time substitute in the second round game against Belgium. He responded by scoring a memorable volley on the turn in the very last minute of extra time - his first goal for his country, and also the latest goal ever (excluding deciding penalties) in World Cup history - sending England into the quarter finals.

With captain Bryan Robson suffering an injury, Platt started the next game - a quarter-final tie against Cameroon - as his replacement, and scored the opening goal in a 3-2 victory. He also appeared in the semi-final against West Germany which went to a penalty shootout after finishing 1-1. Platt had a goal disallowed in extra time, and scored England's third penalty, but the next two were not converted and England went out of the tournament. Platt ended the competition on a personal high by scoring his third goal of the finals in a 2-1 defeat by Italy in the third place play-off.

The post-tournament hype for team-mate Paul Gascoigne meant that Platt's own outstanding World Cup was not tainted or affected by massive media reaction.^{[citation needed]}He quietly settled back into his captain's role at Villa and retained his starting place in the England team, now managed by Graham Taylor, his former manager at Villa.

Platt became England's most consistent performer of the early 1990s,^{[citation needed]}scoring goals with frequency from midfield and proving an inspirational leader. He was captain for much of this period, though Tony Adams also skippered the side.

In the Euro 92 tournament, England failed to win any of their group games and crashed out, with Platt scoring their only goal of the competition in a 2-1 defeat against Sweden. The squad then failed, despite Platt's continuing drive from midfield, to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Taylor quit. His replacement, Terry Venables, kept Platt in his squads (indeed, Platt scored the first England goal in the Venables era) but by the time Euro 96 came round, Platt had to settle for a place on the bench, with Paul Ince and Gascoigne getting the^{[citation needed]} midfield roles and Adams the captaincy.

Platt appeared as a substitute in most of the Euro 96 games, and started the quarter final against Spain as Ince was suspended. In the semi-final, he once again scored in a penalty shoot-out against Germany, but equally similarly, ended up on the losing side. Platt retired from international football soon afterwards, having been capped 62 times and scored 27 goals since his debut against Italy in 1989.

[edit] Italian move

Meanwhile, his abilities as a footballer had in 1991 taken him from Aston Villa to Italy, where he successfully turned out for Bari, Juventus and Sampdoria, costing many millions of pounds in transfer fees. Platt won the UEFA Cup with Juventus in 1993 and the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) with Sampdoria in 1994 under coach Sven-Göran Eriksson.

[edit] Last seasons with Arsenal

Arsenal then signed him in 1995 and he finally won English domestic honours in the game three years later as part of the squad which won both the FA Premier League and the FA Cup in 1997-1998 season. The match David Platt is most remembered for, in this season, was his 83rd minute header against Manchester United in November 1997, helping Arsenal to a 3-2 victory over their closest rivals and keeping Arsenal in the title race.

Platt suddenly announced his retirement from playing in the summer of 1998.

[edit] Coaching and media career

Within months of leaving Arsenal, Platt returned to Sampdoria as Head Coach, a controversial stint which ended prematurely, with other clubs protesting that Platt did not have the appropriate coaching qualifications for managing in Serie A. Platt resigned before Sampdoria were relegated to Serie B.

In July 1999 Platt was appointed manager of Nottingham Forest, who had just been relegated from the Premier League. He actually made a playing comeback in the 1999-2000 season, playing three Division One games.

He was manager at the City Ground for two seasons, but had little success despite spending several million pounds on players who did not perform well and plunging the club into large sums of debt. Platt's tenure at Forest was marred by disagreements with several experienced, long-serving players, leading to them being isolated from the first-team picture and subsequently released by the club. He is still hugely unpopular with many Forest fans who blame him for the club's decline on and off the field during the 2000s, which culminated in relegation to the league's third tier four years after his departure.

Platt was appointed manager of the England Under-21 side on 17 July 2001, which brought a little more success than his stint at Forest. He guided them to qualification for the U-21 European Championships in 2002. He left this role after failing to qualify for the 2004 tournament and was succeeded by Peter Taylor. Platt is now seen as a media pundit often for England U21 matches.

He writes a regular column for FourFourTwo magazine, commenting on tactics.

Platt is strongly being rumoured to be linking up with his old Manager at Notts County F. C., Sven Goran Eriksson, who is Director Of Football at the Meadow Lane Club. However the club have categorically denied he will be offered the position and Peter Taylor has been installed as the bookies favourite..

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01	26 June 1990	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy	Belgium	1 – 0	1 – 0	1990 World Cup
02	1 July 1990	Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy	Cameroon	1 – 0	3 – 2	1990 World Cup
03	7 July 1990	Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy	Italy	1 – 1	1 – 2	1990 World Cup
04	14 November 1990	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1 – 0	1 – 1	Euro 1992 Qualifying
05	21 May 1991	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Soviet Union	2 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
06	21 May 1991	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Soviet Union	3 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
07	25 May 1991	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Argentina	2 – 0	2 – 2	Friendly
08	17 May 1992	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Brazil	1 – 0	1 – 1	Friendly
09	3 June 1992	Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1 – 1	2 – 1	Friendly
10	3 June 1992	Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	2 – 1	2 – 1	Friendly
11	17 June 1992	Råsunda Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden	Sweden	1 – 0	1 – 2	Euro 1992
12	14 October 1992	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Norway	1 – 0	1 – 1	1994 World Cup Qualifying
13	17 February 1993	Wembley Stadium, London, England	San Marino	1 – 0	6 – 0	1994 World Cup Qualifying
14	17 February 1993	Wembley Stadium, London, England	San Marino	2 – 0	6 – 0	1994 World Cup Qualifying
15	17 February 1993	Wembley Stadium, London, England	San Marino	3 – 0	6 – 0	1994 World Cup Qualifying
16	17 February 1993	Wembley Stadium, London, England	San Marino	5 – 0	6 – 0	1994 World Cup Qualifying
17	31 March 1993	Atatürk Olympic Stadium, İzmir, Turkey	Turkey	1 – 0	2 – 0	1994 World Cup Qualifying
18	28 April 1993	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Netherlands	2 – 0	2 – 2	1994 World Cup Qualifying
19	13 June 1993	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., United States	Brazil	1 – 0	1 – 1	Friendly
20	19 June 1993	Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, United States	Germany	1 – 1	1 – 2	Friendly
21	9 March 1994	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Denmark	1 – 0	1 – 0	Friendly
22	17 May 1994	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Greece	3 – 0	5 – 0	Friendly
23	17 May 1994	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Greece	4 – 0	5 – 0	Friendly
24	16 November 1994	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Nigeria	1 – 0	1 – 0	Friendly
25	3 June 1995	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Japan	2 – 1	2 – 1	Friendly
26	8 June 1995	Elland Road, Leeds, England	Sweden	2 – 3	3 – 3	Friendly
27	18 May 1996	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Hungary	3 – 0	3 – 0	Friendly

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a player

Crewe Alexandra

• Milk Cup Premier Section winner: 1987

England

• FIFA World Cup fourth place: 1990

Juventus

• UEFA Cup winner: 1992–93

Sampdoria

• Coppa Italia winner: 1993–94
• Supercoppa Italiana runner-up: 1994

Arsenal

• Premier League winner: 1997–98
• FA Cup winner: 1998

[edit] Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Sampdoria		1998	1999
Nottingham Forest		July 1999	July 2001	103	37	41	25	35.9
England U-21s		July 2001	2004

[edit] External links

• David Platt career stats at Soccerbase
• David Platt management career stats at Soccerbase
• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• AFK Platt's Football Tactics Business

v • d • e England squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Shilton • 2 Stevens • 3 Pearce • 4 Webb • 5 Walker • 6 Butcher • 7 Bryan Robson • 8 Waddle • 9 Beardsley • 10 Lineker • 11 Barnes • 12 Parker • 13 Woods • 14 Wright • 15 Dorigo • 16 McMahon • 17 Platt • 18 Hodge • 19 Gascoigne • 20 Steven • 21 Bull • 22 Beasant • Coach: Bobby Robson

v • d • e England squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Woods • 2 Curle • 3 Pearce • 4 Keown • 5 Walker • 6 Wright • 7 Platt • 8 Steven • 9 Clough • 10 Lineker • 11 Sinton • 12 Palmer • 13 Martyn • 14 Dorigo • 15 Webb • 16 Merson • 17 Smith • 18 Daley • 19 Batty • 20 Shearer • Coach: Taylor

v • d • e England squad – UEFA Euro 1996 semi-finalists 1 Seaman • 2 G. Neville • 3 Pearce • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Platt • 8 Gascoigne • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 Anderton • 12 Howey • 13 Flowers • 14 Barmby • 15 Redknapp • 16 Campbell • 17 McManaman • 18 Ferdinand • 19 P. Neville • 20 Stone • 21 Fowler • 22 Walker • Coach: Venables