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David Platt (born June 10 1966 in Chadderton,
Oldham) is an England|English football
(soccer)|footballer, regarded as one of the most
industrious and complete midfield players the
country has produced.

Platt was rejected by Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United as a youngster and allowed
to join Crewe Alexandra F.C.|Crewe Alexandra from
where he carved out a reputation as a
strong-running, free-scoring midfielder. Top clubs
came to look, and he eventually joined Aston Villa
F.C.|Aston Villa.

After adapting quickly to top-flight football,
Platt was given his first England national
football team|England cap by Bobby Robson in a
friendly against Italy national football
team|Italy in 1989. Although he had few caps and
had shown little promise as an international
footballer by the time Robson named his 22 players
for the Wc|1990, Platt got a place due to his
versatility and reliability.

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 national
football team|Belgium. He responded by scoring a
memorable volley in the very last minute of the
extra period - his first goal for his country -
sending England into the quarter finals.

With captain Bryan Robson suffering an injury,
Platt started the next game - a quarter-final tie
against Cameroon national football team|Cameroon -
as his replacement, and scored the opening goal in
a 3-2 victory. He also appeared in the semi-final
against Germany national football team|West
Germany which went to a penalty shootout
(football)|penalty shootout after finishing 1-1.
Platt 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. He quietly settled back into his
captain's role at Villa and retained his starting
place in the England team, now (luckily for Platt)
managed by Graham Taylor, his former manager at
Villa.

Platt became England's most consistent performer
of the early 1990s, scoring goals with frequency
from midfield and proving an inspirational leader.
He was captain for much of this period, though
Tony Adams (footballer)|Tony Adams also skippered
the side. Adams was, however, a less automatic
choice and was also injured more.

In the Ec|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 national football
team|Sweden. The squad then failed, despite
Platt's continuing drive from midfield, to qualify
for the Wc|1994 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 Ec|96 came round,
Platt had to settle for a place on the bench, with
Paul Ince and Gascoigne getting the coveted
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 national football team|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
afterwards after 62 appearances (13 as captain)
and an impressive 27 goals.

Meanwhile, his abilities as a footballer had, in
1993 taken him from Aston Villa to Italy, where he
successfully turned out for A.S. Bari|Bari,
Juventus and U.C. Sampdoria|Sampdoria, costing
many millions of pounds in transfer fees. Arsenal
F.C.|Arsenal then recruited him in 1996 and he
finally won domestic honours in the game two years
later as part of the squad which won both the
Premier League and the FA Cup.

He left Arsenal afterwards to become coach of
Sampdoria, a controversial stint which ended
prematurely, with other clubs protesting that
Platt didn't have the appropriate coaching
qualifications for managing in Serie A.  In 1999
Platt was appointed player-coach of Nottingham
Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest but this was
unsuccessful, with Platt 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.

Platt was appointed manager of the England under
21 side with moderate success. He left this role
in 2004 to be succeeded by Peter John Taylor|Peter
Taylor.

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succession box|title=PFA Players' Player of the
Year|before=Mark Hughes |after=Mark
Hughes|years=1990
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