Southgate tribute to a colossus
GARETH SOUTHGATE paid a heartfelt tribute to his close friend and team-mate Ugo Ehiogu, who died yesterday morning at the age of 44. Ehiogu collapsed at Tottenham’s training centre, where he was Under 23 coach, on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest and died in hospital. The England manager was ‘stunned and deeply saddened’ to learn of the passing of a ‘gentleman’, with whom he played at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. Southgate said: ‘While he was a gentle giant away from football, he was a colossus on the pitch. We put our bodies on the line for each other.’ Tottenham and Chelsea will wear black armbands for today’s FA Cup semi-final.
ONE senior member of staff at Tottenham spoke touchingly yesterday of why he so admired Ugo Ehiogu. 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.
Paul Merson could not hide his grief, the tears flowing from his eyes during an emotional tribute on Sky. ‘ I’m still devastated,’ said Merson of a defender he spent two years playing with at Aston Villa. ‘He was such a top bloke, unbelievable, a man mountain. ‘You know what, Billy Joel sings that song,
Only The Good Die Young, and that was him. I was talking to him only recently and he was always winding me up, saying Tottenham have got some good players coming through. My heart goes out to his family.’
In a Footballers’ Football Column he wrote for Sportsmail in 2013, Ehiogu shared his views on coaching, and what he had learned not just as an England player but as a coach who had then worked with England’s Under 20s side. He wrote of the need for coaches in this country to be ‘braver’, and of the lack of joined-up thinking when it came to settling on a style of play for the England teams across all the age groups and genders.
It was the approach they were adopting at Tottenham, and one he thought the Football Association should imitate.
Someone he played with an awful lot is now very senior at the FA, of course, and last night Gareth Southgate issued a very personal statement. ‘ 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.
‘I’ve spoken to several of our former team-mates today and there’s just a sense of disbelief that we’re having these conversations.’
Even the last thing Ehiogu posted on Twitter, towards the end of last month, said much about the man. ‘Gave a homeless girl £10 last night in Dalston. She didn’t ask or beg. Random impulsive act from me. Not gona lie. Felt good. #dosomethingkind.’ A few days earlier he had posted a picture of himself with Fabio Capello at a youth league coaches forum at the UEFA offices in Nyon.
His passion extended beyond football and into music, where he had a stake in a successful independent record label that even boasted a chart-topping album for The 1975, a rock band from Manchester.
Ehiogu was unfortunate to play in an era when England had many top- class centre halves. But at club level he was outstanding, as Bryan Robson was only too aware having signed him twice. ‘I thought so highly of Ugo as a player and a lad,’ said Robson. ‘I paid £6million for him at Middlesbrough and I tried to sign him at West Brom.
‘I also signed him at Sheffield United towards the end of his playing career. He was such a good, strong defender and a fitness fanatic, which is why it comes as a real shock.’
Ehiogu joined Tottenham’s coaching staff on a full-time basis in July 2014, with head of coaching and player development John McDermott putting him in charge of the club’s Under 23 side.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said yesterday: ‘Ugo was an extremely popular and respected coach, a tremendous influence on our younger players both in training and away from the pitch and he will be greatly missed.’
Mauricio Pochettino echoed that. ‘He was a person who always helped us a lot and we will miss him greatly,’ said the manager.
Harry Kane said: ‘Ugo was a big part of our development team at Spurs and a great character; full of life, always laughing and joking, always in good spirits. He was a fantastic person.’
Speaking for the League Managers’ Association, where Ehiogu had enrolled in their diploma in football management, chairman Howard Wilkinson said: ‘As a player and then a coach, Ugo was a credit to the modern game. His desire to learn was second to none.’