Glenn Hoddle’s first words after returning to live TV after heart scare

Former Tottenham Hotspur player and manager Glenn Hoddle has this evening made his return to TV as a football pundit following his health scare.

Hoddle collapsed after a live television broadcast by BT Sport on his 61st birthday, and had to be rushed to hospital for lifesaving surgery after suffering a cardiac arrest.

He was in intensive care for a period before being discharged to continue his recovery from surgery after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass.

BT sound engineer Simon Daniels is credited with playing a vital role in Hoddle‘s survival, after performing CPR treatment on him, along with the use of a defibrillator before the paramedics arrived to take Hoddle to hospital.

Hoddle was part of the BT Sports punditry panel for this evening’s Europa League match between Chelsea and Dynamo Kyiv at Stamford Bridge.

During his playing career, Hoddle played for Tottenham, Monaco, Swindon and Chelsea over two decades.

He told BT Sport, as quoted by The Express: “I’m doing alright, it’s been three and a bit months. It’s been tough,”

“What’s the chances of what happened? It was a normal day, I felt fine and travelled into the studio. I remember saying ‘I’ll see you at 5.30’ and the rest is a little bit of a blur.

“I can’t remember any of that at all [being on the show]. I remember you and [Paul] Ince walking towards me with a birthday cake.

“I can’t remember the teqball match at all. You didn’t beat me did you?”

“I just thank God I was in the studio at that time with Simon [Daniels] there and a defibrillator there.

“I could have been on my own and I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”