'The real heroes' - Micky Hazard on tackling COVID-19 and work of the NHS

Micky Hazard won plenty of battles on the pitch - now he’s won an even bigger one off it.

Our legendary midfielder - FA Cup winner, UEFA Cup winner with us in the 1980s - was struck down with the symptoms of the COVID-19 virus last month.

In a candid interview, Micky, 60, described those symptoms and talked us through his night in North Middlesex Hospital.

He said: “Sitting in hospital was the scariest night of my life. You’re lying there with an oxygen mask, you’ve watched the news, you know what is going on, you know the deaths that are occurring, the din all around you with doctors and nurses all with face masks on – it was like living in another world, like a film.”

Thankfully, Micky pulled through and was released the next day. Now, almost a month on, he’s back on his feet - and, naturally, thankful for all the work of the NHS.

He added: “These guys are amazing human beings... hopefully when we get to the other side of this crisis, there will be some reward for them. I’ve been a footballer, a so-called ‘hero’, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get a real perspective on things. The real heroes are the doctors, the nurses, the firemen, the people who save lives. They are the real heroes.”

Micky’s mind wandered back to 1976, when he first moved down to Tottenham as an apprentice at Spurs, aged just 16. He lived in digs in Branksome Avenue, on the doorstep of North Middlesex Hospital. It wasn’t lost to him how that home was in the middle of the two huge institutions that have played such a huge role in his left - North Middlesex Hospital/NHS and Tottenham Hotspur FC.

“It’s incredible really,” he mused. “I lived 50 yards from North Middlesex Hospital in Branksome Avenue with a wonderful family, the Moore family. A 10-minute walk the other way, every morning, seven o’clock, and I was at White Hart Lane. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is my life and I’ve spent far too long at North Middlesex recently!”

Micky's story

Micky also praised the Club for our work with the NHS and North Middlesex Hospital during this coronavirus pandemic. North Midd’s Women’s Outpatients has been relocated at our new stadium, freeing up much-needed capacity at the hospital itself to treat patients facing COVID symptoms whilst supporting the redirection of pregnant women away from the hospital during the pandemic. On Wednesday, Jose Mourinho delivered fresh fruit and veg from our Kitchen Garden at Hotspur Way to the food distribution hub in operation at our stadium.

Meanwhile, the stadium’s huge basement car park is being used to conduct drive-through COVID-19 testing and swabbing for North Middlesex staff and their families. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the first Premier League ground to be used for testing, following on from other sporting venues around the world.

Elsewhere on the stadium campus, state-of-the-art Design, Technology and Engineering equipment at the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET) is being put to good use. Staff and students from LAET’s education partner, Highgate School, are producing around 2,000 protective face shields a week for NHS staff on the front-line of the pandemic at our local hospitals and GP surgeries.

Micky added: “What the Club has done is an incredible gesture and as someone who has had operations recently at North Middlesex Hospital, it’s fantastic to see the Club working so closely with them, a hospital I lived next door to when I joined Spurs as a 16-year-old. It’s wonderful, and there are so many great things that are being done by our Club and lots of people. In times of crisis we must stick together - together we will win, together we’re unbeatable. That has to be our motto.”