Glen Hoddle- still one of English football's finest.

Glen Hoddle- still one of English football's finest.

For a generation of Tottenham supporters Glen Hoddle had the lot. Hoddle had elegance, grace and a fundamental understanding of the game's inner and outer beauty. But above all else, Hoddle was in love with football, smitten with its simplicity, fascinated with its core values, intrigued by its mysteries and components and always ready to embrace its changing patterns and technologies.

Yesterday's news that Glen Hoddle had collapsed with a heart attack at the BT Sports studios came not only as a shock to the purists within the game but also the traditionalists who still fervently believe that football is essentially simple, flexible, open to experimentation and always enriching to the soul. Hoddle was one of those easy going, naturally gifted players, always unflappable and utterly in control of a football wherever he was in the world.

During the 1970s Hoddle's world found itself surrounded by a crop of players who shared a common bond with him, a true kinship and similar temperaments. When Keith Burkinshaw, then the Spurs manager, invested in two of the most articulate and visionary of footballers it seemed as if Spurs had suddenly discovered two blue chip and highly marketable assets that seemed to vastly appreciate with every match.

When Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa lit up North London with their spectacular range of passing and running skills, the whole of the old First Division sat up and took notice. But when Hoddle began to establish that most compatible of relationships with Ardiles and Villa, Spurs realised that they had in their team three of the most hugely imaginative talents the club had known in quite a while.

Throughout the late 1970s and part of the 1980s, Hoddle carried the baton for a Spurs midfield orchestra who were always willing to respond to his instinctive promptings in the middle of the pitch. What seemed to set Hoddle apart during a trophy laden career was his ability to make practical decisions at the right time and place, judging a game with the cool detachment of somebody determined to take as much as time on the ball as possible. Then he would weigh up the law of averages and  dab those artistic splashes of paint onto a vibrantly colourful canvas.

During an early season match against Manchester United in the late 1970s Hoddle scored perhaps one of the most magnificent and stunning volleys ever seen at White Hart Lane. Playing the most intricate of one twos and almost telepathic wall pass Hoddle adjusted his body accordingly, swung back his kicking foot and thundered a destructive volley high into the roof of United's net. It was a moment that to those who witnessed it will always register in the mind. It was rather like biting into the sweetest apple or peach and just rolling the taste and texture on your lips.

Hoddle, undoubtedly was cunning and manipulative, never an amateur or dilettante, just the most spellbinding magician in possession, a player of deeply creative impulses and neatly delivered touches that would bisect opposition defences. Of course Hoddle the player was the most sweetly expressive of poets, a lyricist at times and never short of a goal or several to his credit when the mood took him.

Hoddle was very fussy and almost pedantic in his choice of passes, slotting his through passes to forwards with  a clear sense of direction. He was fastidious in his study of the game's finer points, knowing perhaps subconsciously at times that one day those studies would result in a successful career in football management.

After sampling the splendour and opulence of Monaco, Hoddle returned to England, dipping tentative toes in the managerial waters of Swindon, his hometown club Spurs, Southampton and then Wolves. It was towards the end of the 1990s that things got serious for Hoddle. Having hugely impressed the FA hierarchy, Hoddle was wanted by England as full time boss.

During the World Cup of 1998 Hoddle's England did moderately well but when Hoddle's controversial stance on the disabled got rather lost in the translation, Hoddle made a swift exit out of the door as England boss. Hoddle was still  attractive managerial material but the moment seemed to have gone. He stepped out of the hullabaloo and madness of international football, pursuing a career in the media as a pundit, a now intensely analytical mind totally concentrated on passing comment rather than the ball.

Thankfully the diagnosis on Hoddle's health isn't quite as serious as was first thought. But it is the image of Hoddle as a player, a player of statesmanlike appearance rather than some grotesque scuffler that many of us will clearly identify with. Hoddle was always a classical footballer rather than some pretentious poseur. a player of silks and satins rather than rags and patches. He glided about the pitch like a gadabout at times, never a pompous dandy, more the ingenious inventor than the outright destroyer.

Now though Hoddle is slowly recovering from a heart attack at home and we must hope that those considered views he had as a media pundit will continue to entertain those who were entertained by him. There was never anything of the false charlatan about Hoddle because he was genuinely committed to the game as both player and manager.

In the early autumn of 1979 Hoddle made his debut for England against Bulgaria on a cold night at Wembley. Perhaps inevitably he scored one of those trademark goals steering the ball precisely past the Bulgarian keeper. It was rather like watching Jack Nicklaus or Lee Trevino chipping out of the rough on a St Andrews fairway and landing the ball in the 18th hole with laser like accuracy.

Above all, Spurs fans will be praying for Hoddle's health because they know all about the club's midfield heritage. Back in the 1960s the midfield sergeant major who was Danny Blanchflower emerged as  the most exemplary of gentlemen, an intuitive footballing brain who knew exactly where to find his men with the ball.

And then finally Hoddle will remember another young prodigy who almost exploded in front of his adoring Spurs fans but now, to the relief of all football supporters, is still loved and revered wherever he goes on the after dinner circuit. His name is Paul Gascoigne and although comparisons could be made with Hoddle the chances are that neither player would willingly want to be thought of as great minds thinking alike. Hoddle was the university swot whereas Gascoigne was the classroom misfit who never really paid any attention to the teacher. Then again Hoddle did have his Top of the Pops moment with Chris Waddle. Oh for those Diamond Lights.