Glenn Hoddle underwent an intense religious experience that changed his life during a visit to the Holy Land when England played in Israel in 1985. The comedian Jasper Carrott said: 'Glenn found God. That must have been a hell of a pass.' But the England coach needed all his faith and belief this week after the furore over his comments about disabled people, especially the alleged quote that people with mental and physical handicaps were paying for sins committed in a previous incarnation.
Hoddle accepted he had made 'a serious error of judgment' which caused 'misunderstanding and pain'. He added: 'This was never my intention and for this I apologise.' But no amount of apologising could stem the calls from all quarters - including Prime Minister Tony Blair's office - for the England coach's head. On Tuesday, the Football Association, previously his staunchest protectors, served it up on a plate.
As a player for Tottenham in the 1970s and 80s, the dazzlingly talented Hoddle would tiptoe through the midfield mayhem, outwitting the cloggers and hardmen to spray around passes of rare quality and fire in goals of audacious brilliance. But such instinct for avoiding trouble deserted him as the England coach of the late 1990s, with the fallen idol presiding over a struggling team and lurching from one public relations disaster to another.
His controversial use of faith healer Eileen Drewery, his cavalier handling of young players such as Michael Owen and David Beckham, his ill-advised World Cup diary, his contempt for the media and his strained relationship with senior players - not to mention England's poor performances - turned him into Public Enemy No 1, at least in the eyes of the tabloid press.
The Holy Land experience led to Hoddle often being described as a born-again Christian - a label he disliked and which was also incorrect. For Hoddle had retained strong spiritual beliefs for years. His link with Drewery dated back to the mid-1970s, as Hoddle explained in his autobiography. 'I first met Eileen when I was 18, and had just got into the Spurs first team. I'd started going out with her daughter, Michelle, and went round to her house one day for coffee. I didn't know Eileen was a healer then, but I happened to be out of the game with a torn hamstring.
'As I was leaving she turned round to me and asked me what my injury was. When she told me she was going to do some absent prayer, I looked at her really strangely. I thought, 'What's this all about?' It's quite a natural reaction. I understand why people react like that when I talk about her now. But she told me to see if the injury was any better in the morning, and it was. It was incredible. There was no more pain. The Spurs physio had told me I'd be out for six to seven weeks, but I trained two days later and played on the third day.' Hoddle became a regular visitor to Drewery, a pub landlady at the time. 'Often Eileen and I would talk for five or six hours. She would explain to me how healing works, and I would go off searching for my own answers. Over a period of time everything started falling into place. On the spiritual side, my faith in God got stronger and stronger.' Sir Cliff Richard was also credited with helping Hoddle on the path to salvation. The pair were introduced in 1981 at a Christians in Sport dinner when Hoddle was experiencing 'confusion' over his religion.