"He just collapsed at the airport": How a Manchester United player could have lost his leg

Today, on April 21, marks the 29th anniversary of 1991 Rumbelows Cup final, where Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United lost to Sheffield Wednesday. Ron Atkinson's men edged 1-0 after a superb first-half finish from midfield maestro John Sheridan. Former United player Lee Sharpe recalled the final and told how the goalkeeper Les Sealey could have lost his leg. “It was a really nasty, horrible gash and should have come off,” remembers United dangerman Lee Sharpe, speaking to The Star. “Usually, after every final, we’d have a party in London to celebrate or even if we lost, but this time we didn’t because we had the Cup Winner’s Cup semi a few days later. “So we went straight to the airport and Les just collapsed. They reckon if we’d got on the plane gangrene would have set in and he would have lost his leg. “That sort of made it less about football in a way and it was then about trying to forget about it and get our heads on for the next game. It helped that it was obviously a big one.” Sealey tragically died some years later from a heart attack at the age of only 43. Source: The Star

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