Tributes to ‘one of the good guys ’

ONE senior member of staff at Tottenham spoke touchingly yesterday of why he so admired Ugo Ehiogu (above). He said at no time did he ever trade on the fact that, unlike most of the academy coaches at the club, he had enjoyed a fine career as a Premier League footballer.

More than that, though, the colleague admired Ehiogu for his reasons for working at the academy in the first place. ‘It wasn’t because he needed the money,’ he said. ‘He’d done well out of the game. No, it was out of pure love for football.’

That passion, and the fact Ehiogu was simply one of football’s good guys, was a common theme yesterday as friends, colleagues, former team-mates and managers responded to the shocking news of his death yesterday morning at just 44 after suffering a cardiac arrest at Tottenham’s training centre on Thursday.

A tearful Paul Merson said on Sky Sports: ‘I’m still devastated,’ said Merson of a defender he spent two years playing with at Aston Villa. He was such a top bloke.’

Last night, England boss Gareth Southgate, who was a former teammate of Ehiogu at Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, and England said: ‘I’m stunned and deeply saddened by Ugo’s passing and clearly my initial thoughts are with his wife Gemma, his children and his family,’ said the England manager. ‘I probably played more games with Ugo than anybody else in my career and while in many ways he was a gentle giant away from football, he was a colossus on the pitch.

‘It felt like a true partnership with Ugo because we were prepared to put our bodies on the line for each other. We shared highs, lows and won a couple of trophies together with Villa and Boro and it’s those memories that I will always cherish when I think of Ugo. He was one of the most professional people I played with in terms of how he applied himself to his job and it was great to see him progressing though the coaching pathway with that thirst for learning.’