Legend Glenn Hoddle rues lack of funds during his time as Tottenham Hotspur manager
In an interview to The Guardian, former England and Tottenham Hotspur manager Glenn Hoddle has said that his biggest regret was not making Spurs a title-winning team because of the lack of funds. He also revealed how frightened he was when he suffered cardiac arrest back in 2018.
The Spurs icon managed the North London club from 2001 to 2003 but without much success. His first match in charge was the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal which he eventually lost 2–1.
During the interview he also revealed that he had never met Spurs owner Joe Lewis and never even had a conversation with him.
“No. I’ve never met Joe Lewis. Never even had a phone call. Never had a conversation with him and Spurs were always my club. That was the happiest I should have been but it was probably the most disgruntled I felt – at Tottenham.”
“It was such a shame because I wanted it so much. I wanted to build a side to win the league like we did at Monaco. That was one of my big regrets but the money wasn’t there.”
The former Spurs manager also revealed that he could have brought in Real Madrid’s Fernando Morientes and Samuel Eto’o from Mallorca for just £12m in 2003 but said that Daniel Levy and the owner were too slow in their talks. That left him hurt.
Hoddle is a Spurs legend as he played for his boyhood club from 1975 to 1987 in which he made more than 350 appearances for them.
On 27 October 2018, his 61st birthday, Hoddle suffered a cardiac arrest in a London TV studio and was taken to hospital for emergency heart surgery. The Guardian state that he had been close to death and was saved by the actions of an employee at BT Sport, who knew how to use a defibrillator.
Talking about the frightening day – the former England international said:
“One of the few things I remember from that day was that I said to Johnno, my driver who dropped me off: ‘See you at half past five.’ You know what I say now when I go back to the same studio? Johnno, see you at half past five … God willing.”
“He says: ‘Oh, don’t say that!’ But I do. That’s how close I was to going. I think: ‘Please God, let me come back and get in that car at half past five.’ It was frightening for everyone, not just me.”
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The same pattern that Hoddle mentioned would be seemingly visible to fans in the era under Mauricio Pochettino. Spurs were astute with their transfer business but under a big name such as Antonio Conte, hopefully the purse strings are loose and the serial winner is backed properly in his task of landing the club’s first trophy since 2008.
