A highly-respected manager, David Pleat is articulate, honest and very popular with his staff and directors as well as the media. Pleat helped establish Luton Town as a First Division club, then almost tasted success with at Tottenham Hotspur before his unfortunate departure.

Pleat joined his local side, Nottingham Forest, as an apprentice and showed great potential, gaining England Schoolboy and Youth honours. But after only six appearances for Forest, he was signed by Luton Town, for a Stlg 8,000 fee by Bill Harvey. Alas, Pleat joined Luton at a bad time as they had just been relegated to the Fourth Division. He broke his leg in training during his first season and returned to the team prematurely which caused chronic back problems. This affected his natural speed which he had used well, combined with his polished control and accomplished trickery. After the injury he became a more studious and constructive player.

Pleat then moved around the lower divisions, his best spell coming at Exeter City, where he scored 13 goals in 66 League appearances.

In 1971 Pleat joined Nuneaton Borough as player-manager, then the following year rejoined Luton as a coach after a period of unemployment. He had also tried his hand at freelance journalism. His initial role at Kenilworth Road involved coaching the juniors, visiting the local schools to coach, and selling lottery tickets.

Harry Haslam, the Luton manager, promoted him to chief coach in December 1978 and Pleat replaced Haslam when he moved to Sheffield United as manager. Luton struggled against relegation to the Third Division in 1978-79 but thereafter challenged for promotion and finally clinched the Second Division championship in 1981-82 with 88 points, eight clear of runners-up Watford.

Pleat then established the Hatters as a First Division club, although they would usually struggle against relegation. He became known as an innovative manager who was receptive to new ideas. Luton avoided the drop in 1982-83 only by winning their last game at Manchester City, with a goal from Raddi Antic, thus sending down the opposition instead. Many probably remember Pleat galloping across the pitch to hug his players in delight.

Luton were unluck to lose 2-1 to Everton in the 1985 FA Cup semi-finals. They reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup in 1985-86, again losing to Everton. That season Pleat also took Luton to ninth in the First Division, one of their best ever positions, and was then offered the manager's job at Tottenham Hotspur which he accepted in May 1986.

Pleat introduced an attractive style of play, using five midfield players and one front-runner. This was highly entertaining for the fans but just failed to bring trophies to the club. In 1987, Spurs lost in an FA Cup Final for the first time in their history, to Coventry City 3-2, finished third in the league and also reached the semi-final of the League Cup but lost to their great rivals, Arsenal.

In October 1987, Pleat lost his job at White Hart Lane following disclosures about his private life, but he was not out of football for long and two months later became the manager of Leicester City. Despite spending Stlg 4m on 25 players, Pleat was unable to find a winning combination and the fans became disillusioned. He was sacked in January 1991 with Leicester on the brink of relegation to the Third Division. In June 1991, he returned to Luton Town as manager but despite playing attractive soccer, the club were relegated to Division Two after ten years of struggling against the drop.

Luton were nearly relegated for the second season in succession. This was caused by the club's poor financial state which meant that Pleat had to sell Players to survive.