Les Sealey

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Les Sealey
Personal information
Full name	Leslie Jesse Sealey
Date of birth	September 29, 1957
Place of birth	Bethnal Green, London, England
Date of death	August 19, 2001 (aged 43)
Height	6ft 0ins (1.85m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1976–1983 1983–1990 1984 1990 1990–1991 1991–1993 1992 1992 1993–1994 1994 1994–1996 1996 1996–2001 1998	Coventry City Luton Town → Plymouth Argyle (Loan) → Manchester United (Loan) Manchester United Aston Villa → Coventry City (Loan) → Birmingham City (Loan) Manchester United Blackpool West Ham United Leyton Orient West Ham United → Bury (Loan)	158 (0) 207 (0) 006 (0) 002 (0) 031 (0) 018 (0) 002 (0) 012 (0) 000 (0) 007 (0) 002 (0) 012 (0) 002 (0) 000 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Leslie Jesse Sealey (29 September 1957 – 19 August 2001) was an English football goalkeeper who played for Coventry City, Luton Town, Manchester United, Aston Villa, West Ham United and others.

Les Sealey, nephew of Alan Sealey, joined Coventry City as an apprentice in 1976 and made his debut as a 19 year old on 11 April 1977, in a 1-1 draw at Queen's Park Rangers. He spent the next five seasons at the West Midlands club before joining Luton Town in 1983. He was a regular goalkeeper for much of his time at Kenilworth Road, but missed their 1988 League Cup triumph due to injury. A year later Luton reached the final again and he was able to keep goal this time, but a last-minute goal gave the trophy to Nottingham Forest. Sealey then lost his place in the line-up to Andy Dibble.

In December 1989, Sealey was loaned to Manchester United and made two league appearances during the final weeks of the season. He was surprisingly named as goalkeeper for the 1990 FA Cup final replay against Crystal Palace (even though United had signed him after the transfer deadline) after a poor display from Jim Leighton in the 3-3 draw and made some impressive saves to help his side win 1-0. Sealey is rumoured to have given his medal to Jim Leighton but this is denied by Leighton as he claimed a winners medal for playing in the first game. United then signed Sealey on a permanent basis and he was their regular goalkeeper throughout the 1990-91 season, keeping goal in their Cup Winners' Cup victory over Barcelona. He was hoping to get a two-year contract, but was offered just a one-year deal and turned it down in favour of a transfer to Aston Villa. For much of the first half of 1991-92, Sealey was Villa's first-choice goalkeeper but he then lost his place to long-serving Nigel Spink and never played for the club again. He had several games on loan at Birmingham City during the opening weeks of the 1992-93 season before returning to Manchester United on a free transfer, this time as Peter Schmeichel's understudy.

In his second spell at Old Trafford, he made just two first-team appearances. The first came in the 1994 FA Cup quarter-final victory against Charlton Athletic, when Peter Schmeichel was dismissed for handling the ball outside the penalty area, Sealey took over in goal after full-back Paul Parker was withdrawn. When Schmeichel served his ban, Sealey kept goal for United in the League Cup final but they lost 3-1 to Aston Villa. At the end of the season he was given a free transfer and joined Blackpool, but within six months he had left Bloomfield Road and returned to the Premiership with West Ham United. Interestingly, due to an injury crisis, Les made his West Ham debut as an outfield player, coming on as an attacking substitute against Arsenal. During his 18-month spell at the Boleyn Ground he was understudy to Ludek Miklosko before joining Leyton Orient in Division Three, where he had far more first-team chances. In December 1996, Sealey returned to West Ham in an exchange deal for 46-year-old Peter Shilton. He made his last first-team appearance on the final day of the 1996-97 season against Manchester United at Old Trafford. At the end of the 1997-98 season he was loaned out to Bury but never made a first-team appearance and on his return to West Ham he was appointed as the club's goalkeeper coach, although he was still registered as a player during the 1999-00 season.

Sealey was still employed as West Ham's goalkeeper coach when he died of a heart attack on August 19, 2001 at the age of 43.

[edit] References

• Les Sealey at eastlondonhistory.com
• Les Sealey at Soccerbase
• Les Sealey at sporting-heroes.net
• Les Sealey at The Goalkeepers Union