Southgate leads emotional farewell to friend Ehiogu
Gareth Southgate, the England manager, gave an emotional speech recalling his memories of Ugo Ehiogu at the former England, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough defender’s funeral in north London yesterday.
Ehiogu died at the age of 44 after suffering a cardiac arrest on April 20 at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground, where he worked as a coach with their Under-23 side.
Ehiogu’s one-time Villa teammate and the best man at his wedding, Dwight Yorke, helped carry his coffin into St Michael’s Church in Highgate, where Southgate spoke about the “fussiness” for which Ehiogu was fondly remembered. Others present included his former Middlesbrough team-mates Paul Ince, George Boateng and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Villa colleagues Andy Townsend and Ian Taylor, as well as former managers Ron Atkinson, Steve Mcclaren and Brian Little.
Spurs were represented by retired defender Ledley King and fellow former players Les Ferdinand, Tim Sherwood, Gary Mabbutt and Pat Jennings, in addition to youth team players and chairman Daniel Levy. Manager Mauricio Pochettino was due to attend the wake.
Little, who managed Ehiogu for four years at Villa until 1998, said: “Gareth Southgate spoke unbelievably well about him, about some of the funny things about him.
“Ugo was very fussy with his food. Gareth hit on how he would order something off the menu, but he’d want it without that, without that, without that and without that, and done a different way. And he did: he was very fussy about prematch meals.
“He was just fussy; he wanted everything to be spot on. That was a nice reminder, something that opened that little box in your brain. Gareth knew him better probably than most people. He spoke so wonderfully well about him.”
Yorke played in the same team as Ehiogu under Little, and he said: “It was an amazing occasion; this was a great send-off for him. He was an amazing footballer, but an amazing husband to Gemma and father to his son. To see so many people come out to pay their respects shows how touching it is for his family.”
Dion Dublin, who also played alongside Ehiogu at Villa, added: “If the words were in the dictionary of how to do your job then his name would be in it, with a picture of Ugo’s face in it. On and off the field he did it right. As a father, as a parent, he did it right.”