Glenn Hoddle

Lore & Background

Hoddle was born in 1957 in Harlington, Middlesex, to Derek Hoddle and Teresa Roberts. The family lived in Hillingdon, Middlesex. In the late 1950s and 1960, Hoddle watched his father playing for Corinthian League club Uxbridge. When Hoddle was four, the family moved to Harlow, Essex, where he attended St Alban's Primary School and the Burnt Mill Comprehensive School.

Hoddle began supporting Tottenham Hotspur when he was eight. 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. Hoddle joined Tottenham as a junior when he was 12, and signed for the club as an apprentice on 17 April 1974. He overcame knee problems in his early teens and collected eight England Youth caps, the first of these on 18 March 1975 against Spain. He made his Spurs first-team debut as a 17-year-old substitute for Cyril Knowles against Norwich City on 30 August 1975, a game that ended 2–2.

Hoddle was forced to wait until 21 February 1976 to start a First Division match and immediately announced his arrival with the winning goal. Hoddle 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.

Reader's Guide

Hoddle 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 past lives. He said that his words were 'misconstrued, misunderstood and misinterpreted' and that disabled people had his 'overwhelming support, care, consideration and dedication'.

Did You Know?

• Hoddle scored in both the 1982 FA Cup final and final replay for Tottenham.
• He was part of the Tottenham team that won the 1984 UEFA Cup, though he missed the final due to fitness concerns.
• Hoddle played under Arsène Wenger at Monaco and won the Ligue 1 title in his first season.