‘Every day is special – I am in extra time, and it’s wonderful’
Hglenn Hoddle on cheating death, embracing life and why he hopes Harry Kane commits to Tottenham for another year
There are small and big shifts in perspective after suffering a near-fatal cardiac arrest. The trivial changes for Glenn Hoddle included a little more golf, which brought improvement before, in his words, he hit a bit of a wall.
More important to Hoddle, whose life was saved three years ago, was his view on life in what he calls “extra time”. The time with family, being involved in the football industry, even how he viewed his own career as a player.
That changed after he collapsed on the set of BT Sport’s studios and was brought back to life by Simon Davies, a sound engineer for the broadcaster.
It was difficult for Hoddle to return to work, with the insignia of his employers a constant reminder of how close he was to dying. And talking about it was not easy either, although it has also given the 63-year-old a different way of looking at the world.
“I’ve always believed we’re here for bigger things anyway, not just after that,” he says. “To be so close to going makes you see how we do things is more important than what we achieve.
“We are always thinking about what we achieve, materially or anything, but how we do it is more important. The things we can take with us.
“You can’t take your bank balance, your car or your house. But how you’ve dealt with people and how you treat people is far more important.
“I was fortunate that Simon was there when he was and saved my life. I’m just so thankful. He was the first person to save my life and there were so many other people at the hospital. It does put a different perspective on it. Life is here to be enjoyed. I look at it less stressful.
“There are opportunities every day. All my grandchildren, different projects I’m involved in, all the important things to me. Every day really. I’m in extra time, in football terminology, and it’s a wonderful time.”
The cardiac arrest, on Hoddle’s 61st birthday, inspired him to go on The Masked Singer on television. He had music pedigree from his Diamond Lights single with Chris Waddle, but it would be difficult to imagine him disguised as a grandfather clock on national TV without such a life-changing event having happened.
Being less stressed is also a byproduct. As he tried to get home from the Uefa Super Cup last week there was a three-hour delay at Belfast Airport to get back to London, but it seemed irrelevant in the bigger picture.
Hoddle’s changed perspective is pertinent when talking about football today.
He wants Harry Kane to stay at Tottenham for another year, like he himself did in 1986, but sympathises with the desire to satisfy personal ambitions. Life is too short.
As a player, he is only now fully appreciating being part of football for more than two decades before going into management and reaching the pinnacle of coaching, in taking charge of England.
“Anyone who has been a footballer is grateful and fortunate they’ve been given a gift to play and do something you love doing,” he says. “I’m looking at that more and more. I’m involved in TV or talking to you about football, it’s a labour of love. That has been magnified since.”
There are parallels with Kane, in that Hoddle also wanted to leave Spurs, the club where he had come through the ranks and become their talisman. But while Kane wants trophies, Hoddle wanted to go on that rare path of playing abroad.
“I did give the club an extra year. I was due to go after the World Cup in 1986 but David Pleat came in and I said, ‘One more year but I definitely want to get that experience abroad as a player and a person’,” he says.
“Mine was slightly different in the sense that I had this desire, from a youngish age, to play abroad. It is slightly different to Harry, who is looking to maybe move to stay in England. I always felt the foreign game was suited to my game better and that was always on the agenda for me. I made it pretty clear and plain in the year or two before.
“I had opportunities to go, to leave Tottenham earlier, but they never materialised. It’s slightly different, but I understand where Harry is coming from. As a Spurs man I really hope he stays but I understand, like a lot of Tottenham fans would understand if he does move on.
“We’d won some trophies at Tottenham and were very successful the way we played and it was very enjoyable. Uefa Cups, FA Cups back-to-back. I wanted to move on at a personal level rather than go to seek trophies, and ended up in Monaco playing with Arsene Wenger.”
All eyes are now on when Kane comes back after missing the opening Premier League weekend. Hoddle expects professionalism and the England captain to treat the football pitch as a safe haven.
“My focus was there and I think Harry’s will be there also. At the end of the day there is a three-year contract still there and if he stays I think he will be professional even though he wants to move.
“When you’re training and you have a match, that is where you’re at your most comfortable. It’s a release for you like that. I never had a problem with that and I don’t think Harry has a problem with that, because we both love the game. When you love the game it becomes easy to go out and train and play, whatever the circumstances.”
As for the Premier League this season, for which he will be a pundit for BT, he says he would pay to watch Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, but feels there will be a title challenge from one of his former clubs, Chelsea.
“Yes, De Bruyne. That’s where I’d spend my afternoon given the opportunity to watch one player,” he says. “The picture he sees and the vision he has, I admire that sort of player. Andrea Pirlo had it. It is something you can’t really coach, that vision is in a player and De Bruyne has got it. He’s playing the right style of football at the right club. I think he’ll have an excellent season yet again.
“Chelsea will have a squad that will push them. When everyone is fit they have a deep squad. With Romelu Lukaku coming as well, they have an opportunity to really challenge City. But if City get Kane I’d expect them to win the league.”
‘To be so close to going makes you see how we do things is more important than what we achieve’