Once a Tottenham Hotspur midfield maestro, once a Chelsea player-manager, it was while boss of England where Glenn Hoddle endured his most public notoriety.
Storm in a teacup?
At the time it did not seem like it, On February 3, 1999, England’s manager of two-and-a-half years was ‘sacked’.
The official line at the time was ‘terminated by mutual consent’ – but Hoddle’s controversial comments about disabled people had left the FA and himself, with nowhere to hide.
In case you can’t recall, Hoddle had commented in an interview with The Times, “You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains.
“Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime.
“I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap.”
Under public scrutiny he later tried to speedily backtrack, as a furore started over his comments.
“I accept I made a serious error of judgement in an interview which caused misunderstanding and pain to a number of people.
“This was never my intention and for this I apologise.”
In 1999 the internet revolution was yet to take off.
Whereas these days Hoddle would have been trending on Twitter, potentially for days, his daughter wrote a letter into BBC Ceefax, asking the public to go easy on her dad.
It was not to be, on this day 13 years ago Hoddle was forced out.
It was a great shame, because a public-spat with Paul Gascoigne aside, he had been one of England’s more promising coaches, and his managerial career never really recovered.
image: © TottenhamFan
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