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Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and TNT Sports.
He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and Swindon Town and at international level for England. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame, which cited him as one of the most gifted and creative English footballers of his generation, exhibiting "sublime balance and close control, unrivalled passing and vision and extraordinary shooting ability, both from open play and set pieces". Glenn Hoddle's induction into Hall of Fame in 2007 – National Football Museum Retrieved 6 April 2008 He was also known for his tactical intelligence and work-rate.
He has been manager of Swindon Town (earning promotion to the Premier League), Chelsea (taking them to the FA Cup final), Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur (reaching a League Cup final) and Wolverhampton Wanderers. He managed England to the second round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where they lost to Argentina on penalties. He was dismissed from the England job in 1999 following an interview with Matt Dickinson in which he was widely interpreted as saying that people with disabilities and others are affected by karma from Reincarnation. He said that his words were "misconstrued, misunderstood and misinterpreted" and that disabled people had his "overwhelming support, care, consideration and dedication".
He began supporting Tottenham Hotspur when he was eight, and his favourite player was Martin Chivers. He first came to the attention of Tottenham when Chivers and Ray Evans went to present prizes at a local school cup final and noticed the potential of an 11-year-old Hoddle. On Chivers's recommendation, he was invited to train with the club at Tottenham's practice ground in Cheshunt. At the age of 15, Hoddle played for Harlow-based Sunday league club Longmans, alongside his father.
He flourished under the management of Keith Burkinshaw and despite the club's relegation to the Second Division in 1976–77 after 27 seasons of First Division football, a Hoddle-inspired Spurs side won promotion to the top flight at the first attempt. As Tottenham's transitional phase continued, Hoddle's international career began on 15 December 1976 in an Under-21 friendly fixture against Wales. He would collect another eleven caps at that level, and play twice for the England 'B' team prior to scoring on his full international debut against Bulgaria on 22 November 1979.
The 1979–80 campaign heralded the emergence of Hoddle as a top-class player; the 22-year-old midfielder scored 19 goals in 41 league appearances and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award at the end of the season. In 1981, he starred as Spurs won the FA Cup for the sixth time, defeating Manchester City after a replay. The following season, Tottenham retained the FA Cup (Hoddle scored in both the final and final replay) against Queen's Park Rangers and finished the League campaign in fourth place, the club's best league position since 1971. Hoddle was part of the Tottenham team which reached the final of the League Cup, losing 3–1 to Liverpool, and the semi-final stage of the European Cup Winners Cup. During the summer of 1982, Hoddle played in two of England's matches in the opening group phase of the FIFA World Cup, starting against Kuwait after a substitute appearance in a 2–0 victory over Czechoslovakia.
Hoddle's involvement in the following three seasons was limited by a number of niggling injury problems (he started only 76 of a possible 126 league matches) but nevertheless, Hoddle proved to be the architect behind the team's 1984 UEFA Cup triumph despite missing the final due to fitness concerns. In October 1983, he helped Spurs win 6–2 on aggregate against a Feyenoord Rotterdam side containing Johan Cruyff. Cruyff was dismissive of Hoddle before their first match, but after Hoddle's performance, Cruyff swapped shirts with Hoddle as a sign of respect.
Spurs came close to further honours in the next three seasons, reaching third place in the First Division and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1984–85 and another FA Cup Final in 1987, losing 3–2 to Coventry City, the only time the North London club has experienced defeat in the final of the famous knock-out competition. The unexpected loss to the Midlands side was Hoddle's last match for Spurs, as newly appointed AS Monaco manager Arsène Wenger brought him to the principality for a fee of £750,000. Between 1975 and 1987, Hoddle scored 110 goals in 490 first-team matches in all competitions; only four players (Steve Perryman, Pat Jennings, Gary Mabbutt and Cyril Knowles) have made more appearances in a Spurs shirt. At international level, Hoddle won 44 caps for England during his Tottenham career.
During his three-and-a-half-year spell in France, Hoddle won a further nine England caps, making his international farewell against the Soviet Union in June 1988. He returned to England and signed for Chelsea on a non-contract basis to regain his fitness, leaving Stamford Bridge in March 1991, without playing a senior match, to become player-manager of Swindon Town in the Second Division.
He was included in the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cup squads, and England reached the quarter-finals against Argentina in the latter.
Hoddle also featured prominently in the European Championship squads of 1980 and 1988, making his 53rd and final international appearance in the final group game of Euro 88, a 3–1 defeat to the Soviet Union in West Germany. He scored eight goals for the England senior side in a career stretching nine years, the last of his international goals coming on 23 April 1986 in a 2–1 friendly win over Scotland at Wembley.
Hoddle prevented Swindon from slipping into the Third Division and further improvement throughout the 1991–92 season saw the Wiltshire club finish in eighth place, just missing out on a play-off place. They had briefly led the table in October.
Swindon reached the playoffs of the rebranded Division One in 1993 and beat Leicester City 4–3 at Wembley, and were then promoted to the Premier League. Hoddle scored Swindon's first goal of the final.
By the time he guided Swindon to promotion, Hoddle was already being linked with managerial vacancies at bigger clubs. Just days after guiding Swindon to promotion, he accepted the offer to manage Chelsea and was succeeded at Swindon by his assistant John Gorman, who had been widely expected to follow him to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' competition in 1994–95 and lost by a single goal to Real Zaragoza, who went on to beat Arsenal in the final. Hoddle guided Chelsea to the FA Cup semi-finals in 1995–96, but was unable to take them beyond 11th place in the Premiership; they had occupied this final position three times in four years. He did establish them as a force in cup competitions and made them capable of attracting top-class players—such as Ruud Gullit—to the club. Other notable signings were Mark Hughes, Dan Petrescu, Gavin Peacock, David Rocastle and Mark Stein.
Hoddle's 60% win rate during his spell as manager is only bettered by Sir Alf Ramsey, Fabio Capello, Sam Allardyce (who only managed one game) and Sir Gareth Southgate. [3]
Dickinson's interview reported that Hoddle had a "controversial belief that the disabled, and others, are being punished for sins in a Karma". Hoddle's comments were criticised by several politicians, including Sports Minister Tony Banks and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Public opinion, based upon the immediate media furore, resulted in (according to one BBC poll) 90% of respondents believing Hoddle should not continue as England manager. The BBC survey showed that many considered his comments insensitive to disabled people, but others defended his right to express his religious beliefs by claiming that to sack him would constitute religious discrimination.
Hoddle said that he was unwilling to resign. He stated his words were misinterpreted and pointed out his contributions and commitment to organisations helping disabled people. The Football Association terminated Hoddle's contract on 2 February 1999, which was welcomed by representatives of disabled groups. The disabled rights campaigner Jack Ashley, while criticising Hoddle's views, defended his right to express them, likening the campaign against Hoddle to a "witchhunt", and considered Hoddle's dismissal "a sad day for British tolerance and freedom of speech". Some writers considered the remarks were used as a pretext to get rid of him, speculating that under most circumstances Hoddle would likely have merely been reprimanded, but that the combination of the remarks, poor recent results, and rumoured discontent among the players was enough to cause the Football Association to terminate his contract. Hoddle apologised for the offence that had been caused, stating it had never been his intention and continued to fundraise for disabled groups after being dismissed.
Spurs began the 2002–03 season with Hoddle being named Premiership Manager of the Month for August 2002 after they ended the month top of the league. They finished tenth at the end of the season. The pressure began to build up on Hoddle, and he was sacked in September 2003 after a slow start to the season, in which the team picked up four points from their opening six league games. His final game in charge was a 3–1 loss to his former side Southampton.
In June 2011, it was announced that The Glenn Hoddle Academy had linked up with English Conference North side Hyde. The Academy had previously enjoyed a link with the Spanish fourth-tier side Jerez Industrial, providing their entire squad and coaches, but fell out in a dispute over cash.
In August 2014, Hoddle was appointed first-team coach at Queens Park Rangers under Harry Redknapp; however, on 3 February 2015, Redknapp resigned, following which Hoddle also left the club.
In June 2016, after England's 2–1 loss to Iceland at Euro 2016 and manager Roy Hodgson's subsequent resignation, Harry Redknapp and Alan Shearer both put forward Hoddle as a candidate for the job before Sam Allardyce was appointed.
In 2021, Hoddle appeared as a contestant on the second series of the British version of The Masked Singer, masked as the Grandfather Clock. He finished in ninth place.
Hoddle has been married twice, firstly to Christine Ann Stirling (1979–1998) and subsequently to Vanessa Colburn (2000–2015). He has three children with his first wife. Hoddle's uncle, Dave, was part of the Stansted team that won the 1984 FA Vase.
In 1996, his younger brother, former footballer Carl Hoddle, overdosed on paracetamol, but recovered. In March 2008, Carl died at the age of 40, after collapsing suddenly from a brain aneurysm.
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 reported that he had been close to death and was saved by the actions of an employee at BT Sport, Simon Daniels, who knew how to use a Defibrillation. On 23 November 2018, Hoddle left St Bartholomew's Hospital to recuperate at home after his hospital treatment.
Hoddle published his autobiography, Playmaker, in 2021.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 1975–76 | First Division | 1 |
| 1976–77 | 5 | ||
| 1977–78 | Second Division | 13 | |
| 1978–79 | First Division | 9 | |
| 1979–80 | 22 | ||
| 1980–81 | 15 | ||
| 1981–82 | 15 | ||
| 1982–83 | 1 | ||
| 1983–84 | 5 | ||
| 1984–85 | 8 | ||
| 1985–86 | 8 | ||
| 1986–87 | 8 | ||
| Monaco | 1987–88 | Division 1 | 9 |
| 1988–89 | 20 | ||
| 1989–90 | 1 | ||
| 1990–91 | 0 | ||
| Swindon Town | 1991–92 | Second Division | 0 |
| 1992–93 | First Division | 3 | |
| Chelsea | 1993–94 | Premier League | 1 |
| 1994–95 | 0 | ||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| England | 1 |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| + List of international goals scored by Glenn Hoddlle |
| UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying Group 1 |
| Exhibition game |
| Friendly |
| 1981–82 British Home Championship |
| UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying Group 3 |
| UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying Group 3 |
| 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3 |
| 1986 Rous Cup |
AS Monaco
Individual
Chelsea
Individual
|
|
