The scorer of one of the most famous goals in World Cup history sits on a chair in a marquee attached to a modest sports club in a Manchester suburb. Around him they are setting up for a function. Later, when we are finished, there will be a request for a selfie or two.
Back when he was playing, it was just autographs and for a while afterwards, too. He may have just turned 60, but for David Platt, former captain of England, some things have not changed. Everybody still wants to talk about Belgium.
It was possibly one of the sweetest strikes an English foot has ever applied to a ball. An instinctive volley on the turn in the last minute of extra time in the heat of Bologna’s Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in the last 16 of Italia ’90.
Platt was 24 at the time, a regular for Aston Villa but a newcomer to international football. Sent on by Sir Bobby Robson in the 72nd minute, it was only his eighth cap and seven of them had been as a substitute.
‘To be honest, I didn’t think I was good enough,’ Platt says. ‘I remember Bobby putting me on against Holland in the group game. He said: “Just stop Ruud Gullit from scoring and try and get a goal yourself.”
‘I mean, I’m c****ing myself. I shouldn’t even be in the squad. And you are now putting me on against this colossus. Ballon D’Or winner, 6ft 4in. Dreadlocks. No biggie then…
‘Belgium was the same really. “On you go, try and make something happen”. And then about an hour later, your life changes and it’s just because you’re in the right place at the right time. The ball comes and you connect with something as pure as you’ve ever connected with something in your career. And it all rolls from there. Nothing is ever the same ever again.’
For David Platt, former captain of England, some things have not changed. Everybody still wants to talk about his goal against Belgium in the 1990 World Cup
‘The ball comes and you connect with something as pure as you’ve ever connected with something in your career. And it all rolls from there. Nothing is ever the same ever again’
Platt’s World Cup story illustrates what can happen when a player hits a tournament sweet spot. Selected for the next game against Cameroon, he scored again. He had another disallowed for offside in a semi-final lost to Germany on penalties.
‘I am convinced to this day I was onside,’ he laughs. ‘VAR could have got us to the final.’
On a roll, he finished his month in Italy with a header in the third-placed play-off game against the hosts.
‘I was on an unbelievable high,’ he explains. ‘And that high probably gives you belief far beyond what it should. When we got the penalty against Cameroon at 2-1 down, I told Gary Lineker I was happy to take it.
‘I look back now and think: “What the f*** were you doing?” Ridiculous. It took Gary about half a second to say no. But that was where I was. Within two months I was earning more money off the field than I was on it. There were six commercial offers on the table when I got home.
‘And then calls from Italian clubs. I had done nothing, really, but the Italian clubs wanted to buy the latest name. Before the World Cup I didn’t even have an agent.’
Platt – who went on to play Serie A football for Bari, Juventus and Sampdoria – was last seen as assistant to Roberto Mancini at Manchester City and has been out of football a while now. But he knows about summer tournaments and about the environment needed to succeed.
He played for England at Euro ’96 – another shootout defeat by Germany – and was manager of England Under 21s between 2001 and 2004.
Selected for the next England game after Belgium, against Cameroon, Platt scored again
‘Gazza was the fun, the relief of boredom at Italia ’90. And, you know, that’s really important’
‘A coach will have his core players and then the four or five that are good travellers, good trainers,’ he explains, with a nod to England’s chances at this World Cup. ‘You don’t want any drain, whatsoever. Any manager will tell you that 90 per cent of your problems are caused by 10 per cent of your players.
‘In 1990, Lineker, Terry Butcher and Chris Waddle were the “glue” that held that squad tight. And John Barnes was very, very good, because it didn’t matter what your status was, “Digger” (nicknamed after his namesake in Dallas) was inclusive of everybody. Gazza was the fun, the relief of boredom. And, you know, that’s really important. English football hasn’t always got that right.’
Platt is fortunate to be a footballer who would change very little about his career. Failure to qualify for USA ’94 was a disappointment, mind. And that World Cup defeat by Germany – billed as a heroic near-miss – sometimes nags at him, too.
‘Yeah, that does still hurt because had we believed more, we might have won it,’ he reflects. ‘There is a lesson there and I hope it’s one we have learned. Our mentality back then was getting into the semi-final and thinking, “Gosh, we’ve done well”.
‘But the Germans didn’t think that way. Nor did the Italians. To them, they were there for the whole four or five weeks. When I played in Italy I learned all about this. I’m talking about the focus on games, the mentality to go away three days before a league game and live life and be disciplined. It can be very difficult to do.
‘Here’s an example of that. Try not to laugh. When I went to Switzerland as manager of the Under 21s for the Euros, we had to keep the players entertained and thought long and hard about it. Let’s just say we didn’t exactly get it right.
‘We had one player, for example, who got treated for blisters. Not on his feet but the ends of his fingers.
‘He had been playing f*****g Space Invaders all day. I swear to you. I’m not gonna tell you who it was. We didn’t want the players bored so we basically turned a room into a games arcade. Blisters on his finger tips. Can you believe it? What a mistake.’
Platt takes on West Germany in the 1990 World Cup last four. ‘Our mentality back then was getting into the semi-final and thinking: “Gosh, we’ve done well”’
Platt has no plans to return to football management but is back in the game as the recently appointed chairman of little Baguley Athletic in south Manchester
Platt has no plans to return to football management but is back in the game as the recently appointed chairman of little Baguley Athletic in south Manchester.
The 11th tier of the pyramid – Baguley play in the Manchester League Division One – is a long way down for a 62-cap England international but Platt took on the role after his son Charlie started playing for the first team.
Typically, Platt wants to drive the club forward and spoke to Daily Mail Sport on the day Baguley announced a partnership with local community networking group BW3 aimed at strengthening the club’s position and influence within the Manchester community of Wythenshawe.
‘It floated my boat because it gives me that competitive edge in football again,’ he explains. ‘I’m not here to coach.
‘I want to help and if my name can attract some interest and commercial opportunities, that’s great. But I’m not coming in to be satisfied with a non-League club that just sits there and ticks over.
‘We’ve got to try and drive for success. It means growing and getting better. Nobody’s gonna come to you with any philanthropic sponsorship at this level. There aren’t enough eyeballs on it. But BW3 is a charitable organisation with tonnes of business contacts that could maybe help us.
‘I approached them and said: “Look, if we put you on the front of our shirts, can we have a partnership?”. Maybe we can get something going that way. We would like people to reach out to us and get involved with us as we move forwards.’
Platt, alongside Roberto Mancini, won Abu Dhabi their first trophy with Manchester City, the FA Cup in 2011
He was also at City when Sergio Aguero won them the league in 2012. ‘In terms of sheer exhilaration, the Belgium goal and the Sergio goal were very much on the same level’
Platt was born near Oldham and was on Manchester United’s books until Crewe picked him up. His fondness for his home city is real. So too is his pride at what he and Mancini put together at City in the days before Pep Guardiola.
They won Abu Dhabi their first major trophy, the FA Cup in 2011, and, a year later on an incredible day at the Etihad Stadium, a last-minute Sergio Aguero goal brought the club their debut Premier League title.
‘In terms of sheer exhilaration and going out of your body and mental state, I think the goal against Belgium and that goal that Sergio scored were very much on the same level,’ he says.
‘I ran 30 yards down the touchline at City. Why? When I scored against Belgium, I went down on my knees. I’d never, ever, celebrated like that before. It’s your body and your mind that’s taking over. Amazing.’
Platt had managed at Nottingham Forest, the Under 21s and, briefly, in India when his old Sampdoria team-mate Mancini called him in the summer of 2010.
‘My life was perfect,’ he laughs. ‘I was playing my golf. Raising Charlie. And I can remember when it changed. I am in Turkey standing over a little wedge going into the 16th hole. I was playing well. And my phone goes. It’s Robbie. “Are you coming into City with me?”.
‘I’ve thrown the phone down and then duffed the wedge. Because I knew big change was coming and my cosy life was over. I just knew I couldn’t say no. But obviously it was amazing. It was a privilege to work with those players and to begin every season knowing you had a really big chance of winning something.’
Platt did subsequently apply for a couple of jobs and had Mancini worked in the Premier League again, he probably would have been by his side. But now management is firmly in the past. ‘I don’t want to be back on that snakes and ladders board,’ he says.
On his return from Italy in 1995, Platt spent three years playing for Arsenal, first under Bruce Rioch (above), then under Arsene Wenger
His golf handicap is obscenely low and a recent knee replacement has quite literally put a spring back in his step. He largely keeps himself to himself and that’s how he likes it. This is the first proper interview he has done for a long time and we spent part of a meandering hour talking about the new Premier League champions.
On his return from Italy in 1995, Platt spent three years playing for Arsenal, first under Bruce Rioch, then under Arsene Wenger. His spell concluded with the League and FA Cup Double success of 1998.
‘I’ve grown to like Mikel Arteta because he reminds me a bit of Robbie in that I don’t think he gives a toss whether people like him or not,’ says Platt. ‘I think he plays winning football. The great criticism of Arsenal was that they had to walk the ball in the net. Now some people says it’s ugly football. But you can’t have it both ways.
‘I still think they play very, very good football, but within that good football is a large dose of what is winning. It’s impressive.’
It’s 36 years since that long hot summer in Italy. If England do well, this one in America will be even longer and probably hotter too. Platt, of all people, knows how it can go and what it can mean.
‘What I still quite like is the stories people tell me,’ he says. ‘So many people know where they were when they watched that goal. That still means a lot to me. It really does.’
When he says it changed his life, he means it. That experience altered the way the football world viewed him but, just as importantly, how he viewed himself. ‘Only twice in my career have I gone on to a football pitch and felt invincible,’ he reveals. ‘Once against San Marino for England. I was playing up-front and I told my dad I would get a hat-trick. I think there was a bus driver in goal. I scored four.
Platt, pictured with Daily Mail Sport’s Ian Ladyman, has a golf handicap which is obscenely low and a recent knee replacement has quite literally put a spring back in his step
‘Once against San Marino for England. I was playing up-front and I told my dad I would get a hat-trick. I think there was a bus driver in goal. I scored four’
‘The other time was for Villa against Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup the season after the World Cup. Lothar Matthaus was in their team. We had crossed on the penalties in the World Cup and as he passed me, he gave me a look I hadn’t forgotten. It wasn’t necessarily to put pressure on me. Maybe it was. I don’t know. But it was almost like: “It’s your turn now.”
‘I can remember driving into the game against Inter on such a high. I had been wanting it for two weeks and part of it was me thinking: “I’m having a little pop at you now.” And I had the best game I’ve ever had in my life. Everything I did came off. It was ridiculous. I scored, we won 2-0 and from a footballing perspective I absolutely battered him.
‘All that came from the World Cup. That’s what it can do for you. Not that it always lasts, mind you. We played the return two weeks later and to say he got his own back would be an understatement.
‘We lost 3-0 and went out.’
To get involved with Baguley Athetlic contact: club@baguleyathletic.co.uk
BW3 can be reached at www.bw3.org.co.uk
