Les Sealey obituary
People often talk about larger than life figures in football. But the tragic death of goalkeeper Les Sealey a week ago has robbed English soccer of one of its true characters. He was a highly motivated and hard-working footballer … with the touch of madness all keepers need.
“He was superb in the dressing room, very popular with his team-mates and worked tremendously hard in training,” recalls his boss at Luton, David Pleat. Sir Alex Ferguson goes even further, reckoning he won his place in Manchester United’s 1990 Cup Final on personality alone. And West Ham managing director paid tribute to the “energy and enthusiasm” Les brought to the West Ham bench on match days. Any fan who saw him running up and down the touchline screaming instructions would back that one up!
Les was born on September 29 1957 in Bethnal Green. Growing up a mad Hammers fan, his dream was to play at Upton Park, but it wasn’t to be, and in 1976 he joined Coventry as a 21-year-old apprentice. In 1983, after making 178 appearances for the Sky Blues, Les moved on to Luton, then in the old First Division, for a fee of £100,000. It was to be the start of an itinerant footballing career that would see him hit the European heights with Manchester United.
European glory seemed a long way distant when he joined lowly Plymouth on loan in 1984 though. After six first team appearances he returned to Luton. In 1988 he missed the Hatters’ League Cup final triumph at Wembley where Luton beat Arsenal 3-2.
The next year Luton returned to Wembley to defend the League Cup. Les got the call this time, but his side lost 3-1 to Brian Clough’s League Cup specialists, Nottingham Forest.
But Les’s Cup misery was to be turned on its head in a shock move in 1990. He joined Manchester United on loan in March and Alex Ferguson gave him two first-team matches before signing him on a free transfer.
These were dark days for Ferguson. After his domestic and European successes with Aberdeen, he had taken over at Manchester United in 1986. He was still looking for his first trophy, and under pressure of the sack, when United faced Crystal Palace in the 1990 Cup final.
Palace squeezed a 3-3 draw. And Jim Leighton, the Scotland keeper who Fergie had brought south with him, was at fault for at least one of the goals.
Walking into the Wembley dressing room after the match, the boss saw Leighton with his head slumped over his knees.
“It was then that I knew he had to be left out of the replay,” Ferguson said later. Dramatically and brutally Fergie dropped the Scotland international and threw Les into the replay.
“Was he a better keeper than Jim? No, but he thought he was, and that can sometimes be important,” he revealed. “Les Sealey was cocky and sometimes downright arrogant, so I did not foresee a failure of his nerve at Wembley.”
United won the replay 1-0 and Leighton’s United first team career was over. But if Les had unshakeable self-belief he also had humility. He offered Leighton his FA Cup winners medal after the game but Leighton declined it. Hurt by the psychological damage done to Leighton, Les also sent back the medal sent by the FA to mark his participation in the first game.
Sealey kept his place in the team for the next season, and even managed to better his cup-winning exploits. He played in goal in the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup final in Rotterdam, as United beat Barcelona. He was to finish the match limping badly after suffering a leg injury in a collision. But he wasn’t to be denied the satisfaction of finishing the match, angrily waving away physio Jim McGregor as he attempted to give him treatment!
The next season Peter Schmeichel joined United, and Sealey was off on his travels once more. In July 1991 he moved to Aston Villa after making 44 first-team appearances for United. Then in 1992 he returned to Highfield Road on loan, making two appearances for Coventry. The tour of the Midlands continued in that year when he went to Birmingham on loan, playing 12 games.
Over the next few years he coached at Old Trafford, played for Blackpool, Bury and Leyton Orient and had two stints on the West Ham coaching staff.
Having finally made it to Upton Park he even got the opportunity to play for the team he had always supported. Ironically, one of those was up front, when an injury-hit Harry Redknapp threw him on as a makeshift striker.
Les left the Upton Park coaching staff this summer, along with Harry Redknapp and Frank Lampard. But the Sealey dynasty lives on at the Boleyn Ground. Les’s uncle, Alan Sealey played outside right when the Hammers beat 1860 Munich in the 1965 Cup Winners Cup Final at Wembley, scoring both West Ham goals.
And Les’s two sons, George and Joe, both goalkeepers, are both on West Ham’s books.
Les Sealey born 29 September 1957, died 19 August 2001. Leaves wife Elaine and sons George and Joe.