Gary SPRAKE | 1965-1973 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)

SPRAKE PES STATS | 1965-1973

electric_trigger Gary SPRAKE | 1965-1973 Club: Leeds United Number: 1 Position: GK Nationality: Welsh Era/Age: 1965-1973, aged 20-28 Foot: R Side: B Length: 182 Weight: 82 Attack: 35 Defence: 86 Balance: 82 Stamina: 62 Top Speed: 65 Acceleration: 66 Response: 91 Agility: 77 Dribble Accuracy: 56 Dribble Speed: 58 Short Pass Accuracy: 58 Short Pass Speed: 56 Long Pass Accuracy: 60 Long Pass Speed: 60 Shot Accuracy: 43 Shot Power: 83 Shot Technique: 43 Free Kick Accuracy: 40 Curling: 44 Header: 44 Jump: 86 Technique: 55 Aggression: 79 Mentality: 70 Keeper Skills: 86 Team Work: 72 Injury Tolerance: B Condition/Fitness: 6 Weak Foot Accuracy: 4 Weak Foot Frequency: 4 Gary Sprake born April 3rd 1945 is a name synonymous with goalkeeping cock-ups: mention his name to most non-Leeds fans and they'll start humming ''Careless Hands''. To take an objective look at his career, you'd realise that this is an unfair assessment of an excellent keeper. He was an instinctive shot stopper, became the youngest ever keeper to appear for Wales, and for nearly 10 years was Leeds' first choice, despite the presence of David Harvey in the wings. He was prone to the odd gaffe - and they just tended to happen when the TV cameras were there to broadcast them to the rest of the country. His debut for Leeds came rather unexpectedly: Tommy Younger went down with a temperature just before Leeds' game with Southampton at the Dell, with Sprake back home in Leeds. The club chartered a two-seater plane to fly the young keeper down to Southampton airport, with the game's kick-off being postponed by 30 minutes to allow the slightly green stopper to get to the ground. Some say Leeds would have won more with a different keeper: that's possible, but may be a bit coloured by the soured relationship between Don Revie and Sprake after the latter had some fairly uncomplimentary things to say about the man who had made it possible for him to win so many prizes at the very top level. Sprake moved to Birmingham but made only a handful of appearances before being forced to retire due to injury. His remarks about Revie estranged him from the rest of the squad, and he is just about the only member of the Glory Years side who hasn't maintained some sort of contact with the club or with his former colleagues in his retirement. A back injury brought Sprake's career to a premature end at the age of 30, which resulted in a near fatal blood clot in his back. He subsequently kept his profile low, returning to his native Wales. His comments to the Daily Mirror about Revie regarding match-fixing stuck in the craw of his Leeds team-mates, all of whom were fiercely protective of their manager and the team's reputation. As such, Sprake has remained the only member of Revie's team who has been excluded completely by the club and those within it. Sprake won 37 caps for Wales though his country never qualified for any major tournaments during his international career. His biography, Careless Hands: The Forgotten Truth of Gary Sprake (Tim Johnson & Stuart Sprake), was published in 2006 to critical acclaim. Gary SPRAKE | 1965-1973 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)