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Former England manager Glenn Hoddle to visit Sheppey

06:00, 18 February 2020

updated: 16:50, 18 February 2020

Former England football manager Glenn Hoddle is to visit a Sheppey football club.

The television pundit will call in on AFC Minster tomorrow (Wednesday) as part of his mission to spread life-saving skills on behalf of the British Heart Foundation.

Glenn Hoddle. Picture: Getty Images
Glenn Hoddle. Picture: Getty Images

His crusade began after he suffered a cardiac arrest while in the BT Sport studios.

It was on October 27, 2018 - his 61st birthday - when he collapsed.

Sound engineer Simon Daniels raced to his side and performed CPR, keeping him alive until paramedics arrived.

Glenn ended up needing a quadruple heart bypass. The shock inspired him to set up a scheme to donate defibrillators to football clubs around the country.

The latest will be AFC Minster which plays at the Sheppey Sports Ground at Halfway.

Glenn Hoddle has teamed up with the British Heart Foundation. Picture: Getty Images
Glenn Hoddle has teamed up with the British Heart Foundation. Picture: Getty Images

Club chairman Geoff Oniye said: "This is brilliant news. We are all very excited. It is not often something like this comes along."

The club was only set up 18 months ago and already has about 90 youngsters.

Geoff said: "It has grown exponentially and exceeded al our expectations."

As part of Glenn Hoddle's visit, during the half-term holidays, he will promote life-saving skills, chat to the young players and coaches, and possibly referee a game or take part in a 'beat the goalie' competition.

He played as a midfielder for Spurs, Monaco, Chelsea, and Swindon and was capped for England 53 times.

He said: "When doctors said it was a quadruple I realised I was a lucky man.

"We are all very excited... it is not often something like this comes along..."

"I just thank God I was in the studios at that time with Simon and a defibrillator.

"It was some birthday present I gave myself! But if I'd been on my own I wouldn't be here today.

"I wouldn’t have seen my grandson’s third birthday or my boy Jamie playing his gig in London on stage."

Glenn was one of the best players of his generation, winning the FA Cup twice and the Uefa Cup with Tottenham.

He was a player-manager at Swindon and Chelsea before becoming England manager in 1996.

He also managed at Southampton, Tottenham and Wolves.

Read more: All the latest news from Sheppey

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