'Totally misconstrued'
Hoddle plans to sue over comments about disabled people
Posted: Monday February 01, 1999 06:02 PM
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Hoddle: "I made a big, big mistake in taking a journalist into my confidence, I let my guard down in talking about my personal beliefs and letting the interview stray from football matters." Clive Mason/Allsport |
LONDON (Reuters) -- England coach Glenn Hoddle plans to issue a libel writ against The Times over his reported comments that disabled people were being punished for sins in a previous life, his agent said on Monday.
Dennis Roach told Sky News television: "Glenn had a meeting with his legal advisors and will be going to their offices [on Tuesday] with a view to issuing a writ against The Times newspaper."
Roach's statement came as the English F.A. was due to hold a meeting on the furor that has followed Hoddle's comments.
"I never said it and I don't believe it and I am sorry for the distress I have caused disabled people and their families," Hoddle, 41, said earlier.
He also said he would not resign as England coach, a position he has held since the summer of 1996.
"I made a big, big mistake in taking a journalist into my confidence, I let my guard down in talking about my personal beliefs and letting the interview stray from football matters.
"I do believe in reincarnation, but to say that I think the disabled are being punished could not be further from the truth.
"I am frustrated that my job is hanging in the balance because of the way an interview I gave was totally misconstrued and misunderstood.
"I want to lead the England team out against France next week and I am certainly hoping that I will."
Hoddle has been at the center of a storm since the weekend when, in an interview in The Times, he was quoted as saying: "You and I have been given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains.
"Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime."
Hoddle never said he was misquoted in The Times interview, merely that his remarks had been "misconstrued."
Although he repeatedly apologized for causing distress to the disabled, he said he would not offer his resignation to the English F.A.
His remarks have been roundly criticized, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair stepping into the row on Monday.
Blair said in an earlier television interview he thought it would be hard for Hoddle to remain as coach if the remarks he is reported to have made are true.
The prime minister said, "If he has said what he was reported to have said in the way he is reported to have said it, then it was very wrong. It would be very difficult for him to stay. It was very offensive."
Sports Minister Tony Banks said, "There certainly have been times this weekend when I was wondering what dreadful things I might have done in a previous life to end up as the Sports Minister in this one.
"I can only conclude that I was probably Vlad The Impaler and I certainly felt all my impaling instincts coming back to me when I surveyed the sporting scene at the weekend."
Education Secretary David Blunkett, who is blind, was reported to have said: "If Hoddle is right then I must have been a failed football manager in a previous existence."
Britain's ex-Formula One world champion Damon Hill, who has a handicapped child, said: "Glenn Hoddle should get out more. It really is quite a bizarre state of mind."
Hoddle's position as England coach has been weakened in the last few weeks following the departures of two of his biggest supporters -- chairman Keith Wiseman and chief executive Graham Kelly, who were forced to quit after a "cash-for-votes" scandal involving the Football Association of Wales.
The decision on his future will be taken by acting chairman Geoff Thompson and senior members of the F.A.'s international committee within the next 24 hours.
England's new sponsors, the Nationwide Building Society, demanded talks with the F.A., saying the comments were abhorrent if true.
British bookmakers William Hill said they believe Hoddle is so certain to lose his job that they are not taking any more bets on him resigning or being sacked.
Middlesbrough manager and former England captain Bryan Robson has been made 6-4 favorite to be the next permanent England coach.
Aston Villa boss John Gregory and Fulham manager and former England international Kevin Keegan are also quoted.
The Mirror newspaper on Monday forecasted that he may bow to demands for his resignation, saying he had told colleagues he does not have the stomach to ride out the furor.
Not to be outdone, the top-selling Sun tabloid pictured a one-legged schoolboy soccer player on its front page, next to the caption: "I've only got one leg, so how could you be so hurtful to me Hoddle?"
Hoddle's views echo those of his mentor Eileen Drewery, a former Essex pub landlady and faith healer Hoddle has used since he was a teenager.
Her association with England during the World Cup campaign in France last year caused a huge controversy although Hoddle has since said his biggest mistake in his World Cup campaign was not to have taken Drewery with the team.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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