Football Club Buzz

19/08/2011 11:32, Report by Steve Bartram

On 19 August 2001, English football was stunned by the sudden death of Les Sealey, as the former United goalkeeper suffered a fatal heart-attack at the age of 43. A decade on, ManUtd.com pays tribute to Mr Angry, with help from his former colleagues…

Lain prostrate in Middlesex Hospital on 22 April, 1991, Les Sealey was recovering from emergency knee surgery, hours after his knee had been accidentally gashed down to the bone by Paul Williams’ studs during United’s League Cup final defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Suddenly, he saw through the post-anaesthesia fog. “It’s the Cup Winners’ Cup final in four weeks’ time,” he blurted out to the doctor tending his bedside. “What chance have I got of playing in the big one?”

“Playing?” scoffed the doctor. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

Four weeks later, knee heavily bandaged, Sealey sported the widest grin of all as Sir Alex Ferguson’s underdogs cavorted in the Rotterdam rain. Barcelona had been vanquished, and the charismatic stopper had completed an unlikely comeback to bag his second winner’s medal in under a year after turning his loan from Luton into a permanent move.

“You could see that Les wasn’t fit, but he was prepared to go through the pain in order to play,” smiles Brian McClair. “I always like to think when anybody’s injured that it’s the ultimate question to them: if it was a cup final tomorrow, would you be fit? Les wasn’t, but he played anyway. That tells you a lot about him.”

Source : ManUtd News

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