Glenn Hoddle interview: Self-belief key for Gareth Southgate's England and how CPR saved my life

FOR someone who had graced Wembley so often in the white shirts of Tottenham Hotspur and England, it was fitting that the now modernised national football stadium was the stage where Glenn Hoddle relived the day he nearly died in a bid to help save lives in the future.

It was October 2018, and Hoddle was 61. Full of life and full of football chatter, even if it was a long time removed from his days of dancing through top-flight defences and dancing on Top of the Pops with Chrissy Waddle, Hoddle had been a part of the English football fabric for more than four decades.

He had just come off air at BT Sport and had moved among the cameras to kick a ball around with his co-analysts when suddenly, one of the English game’s most graceful footballers, collapsed.

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“With a cardiac arrest there are no signs,” begins Hoddle, reliving the day for the umpteenth time because he knows every time he tells his story, it might help someone else. “It doesn’t creep up on you and tap you on the shoulder, it just happens. That’s what happened to me. I didn’t feel ill or anything like that, I was just working. It was on my birthday of all days.”

Summer of hope: Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions can return from Germany with the European Championship.Summer of hope: Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions can return from Germany with the European Championship.
Summer of hope: Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions can return from Germany with the European Championship.

The reason he was back at Wembley at the end of April talking about it again is because he is part of the Restarting XI, a team comprising footballers like Fabrice Muamba, David Ginola, Charlie Wyke among others who have all suffered cardiac arrests and are here today to tell their story because someone acted quickly enough to administer CPR.

The Restarting XI is the initiative of Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation who launched a campaign on the eve of the EFL play-offs entitled ‘Every Minute Matters’ aimed at getting 270,000 people signed up to learn CPR on the BHF’s Reviv R app, a 15-minute process. As part of a £3m donation to the British Heart Foundation, Sky Bet were donating £10,000 per goal in the play-offs and getting footballers to tell their story. There were 39 goals scored in the play-offs and 40,000 people have signed up to learn CPR in the first six weeks.

The reason Hoddle is still here is down to the quick-thinking of BT Sport production man Simon Daniels, who had had a CPR refresher months earlier.

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“We’d just come off the air,” says Simon. “I came out of the sound control room and Glenn was kicking a ball in the studio. He went to kick it and just fell back. I could quickly tell he was in cardiac arrest so I started doing CPR and did so for about eight and a half minutes until the ambulance arrived.”

Glenn Hoddle, right, and the Restarting XI at Wembley.Glenn Hoddle, right, and the Restarting XI at Wembley.
Glenn Hoddle, right, and the Restarting XI at Wembley.

It must have been a moment of panic for everyone in the studio, but Hoddle interjects: “Thankfully not for this man,” pointing at Daniels.

“My nickname for him now is my ‘earth angel’. The only reason I’m sitting here is because he did what he did with the CPR, and so quickly. I was a very lucky, lucky person.

“More importantly he knew exactly what he was doing, although he did break seven of my ribs…BUT the nurse did tell me in the hospital weeks after that that’s the sign of a really good CPR. That made me laugh, but at the time it bloody hurt.

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“This man gave me a gift on my birthday, and that’s my life. There’s no better thing in life, surely.”

Glenn Hoddle shares a joke with Simon Daniels, the man who saved his life.Glenn Hoddle shares a joke with Simon Daniels, the man who saved his life.
Glenn Hoddle shares a joke with Simon Daniels, the man who saved his life.

“Don’t overthink it, just do the CPR,” continues Daniels. “You can’t really do it wrong. You’re just buying time until help arrives. You can’t make someone any worse.”

For Hoddle, who gave so much to the game – and still does back on television and through his academy - for the football community to be giving back now is a source of real pride.

Given the setting at Wembley, the timing on the eve of the European Championship, and his standing as a former England player and manager, Hoddle is as eager as any to opine on the prospects of Gareth Southgate’s men this coming month.

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As a cultured midfielder himself, Hoddle looks at the creativity in the Three Lions’ ranks and can’t help but be excited by the embarrassment of riches at Southgate’s disposal.

Former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle has been around English football for nearly 50 years (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)Former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle has been around English football for nearly 50 years (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle has been around English football for nearly 50 years (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Without burdening the current England manager with labels like ‘golden generation’ or over-reaching statements like ‘we should be going to Germany to win the tournament’ – knowing full-well from his own experience it is not that easy – Hoddle does hope Southgate’s men travel full of self-belief.

“Go away from phrases like the golden generation, but I think we should be very optimistic,” says Hoddle. “We’ve got some wonderful young players and certain players coming into their peak.

“Yes, we’re not as good defensively as we might have been in yesteryear but we have got some players who should feel that with the ball they are better than the other teams that are going.

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“And if we have that self-belief I think we can go all the way, I really do.

“You need a bit of good fortune, but I’m a great believer that you make your own fortune with the mentality of the group that you go out there with. I don’t think there’s someone who’s saying I’ll give you a bit of good luck, I’ll give you a bit of bad luck: you make your own luck.

“We can talk about Jude Bellingham who is doing some unbelievable stuff, and we’ve got Phil Foden who for me, I said it when he was 17, he’ll be the best player in the world.

Cultured midfielder - Glenn Hoddle in his England playing days back in 1982 (Picture: Tony Duffy/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)Cultured midfielder - Glenn Hoddle in his England playing days back in 1982 (Picture: Tony Duffy/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)
Cultured midfielder - Glenn Hoddle in his England playing days back in 1982 (Picture: Tony Duffy/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)

“Then there’s Cole Palmer, it’s outrageous how good he’s been this year, and that’s just a quick look at those exciting players.

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“Then you’ve got Bukayo Saka, you’ve got Anthony Gordon coming through, a bundle of real, genuine talent that can line up against, say, France in the tunnel, look them in the eye and say ‘we’re better than you’.

“They might be better defensively, but man for man, we’re a better team.

“That’s the attitude we’ve got to go there with, a real belief that they can go out there and go toe-to-toe with any team they come up against. And you know what, their opponents know that more than probably we know it ourselves, so you’ve got to turn that to your advantage.”

Now 66, part of him wishes he was still playing.

“The biggest difference to when I played is defenders are more comfortable on the ball.

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“It used to drive me and Ray Wilkins nuts with the balls going over our heads.

“Nowadays defenders are a lot more comfortable on the ball, sometimes to the point of over-playing, I’m watching from behind the sofa – the risk and the reward are not quite balanced off sometimes.

“But I’d love to play on these pitches – they’re like carpets, with no one like Souey (Graeme Souness, another member of the Restarting XI) trying to take lumps out of me.

“I think this is what football is like up in heaven.”

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