Former Rangers and England footballer
Born: November 3, 1972;
Died: April 21, 2017
UGOCHUKU Ehiogu, who has died aged 44 after suffering a massive cardiac arrest, will be best remembered in Scotland for his brief spell with Rangers.
The Ibrox club signed him on an 18-month deal during the January transfer window in 2007. But he struggled to get a regular game, making only nine appearances for the club. However, he did attain cult status with the Rangers support following his only goal for them, a spectacular, and match-winning overhead “bicycle kick” against Celtic, at Celtic Park, on March 10, 2007, which gave his side a 1-0 win. The Rangers' fans voted this their Goal of the Season.
However, the following season, 2007-08, he failed to make a first-team appearance, as manager Walter Smith went with a central defensive pairing of Carlos Cuellar and David Weir, and, after only a year at Ibrox, he returned to England, to join Sheffield United.
The London-born defender began his senior career with West Bromwich Albion, as a trainee in 1989. He only made two first-team appearances for the Baggies, however, before Ron Atkinson paid £40,000 to take him across Birmingham to Aston Villa in July, 1991.
He made over 300 appearances for the Villa Park side and won a League Cup-winner's medal in the club's 3-0 win over Leeds United in the 1995-96 final. He saw cup-final action again with Villa in 2000, when they lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
He was very much a fans' favourite at Villa, where he formed an impressive and solid central defensive pairing with current England manager Gareth Southgate. His consistent form with Villa saw him win 15 England under-21 caps - indeed, he was the first black player to captain an England side when he led the under-21s to victory over the Netherlands, at Portsmouth's Fratton Park in 1993.
He went on to win one England B cap, before making his full international debut, when he replaced Tony Adams in the second half against China, in May, 1996. In all, he won four full England caps and has the distinction of being the England internationalist who has won the most caps, without ever starting an international. He scored one England goal, against Spain in 2001, Sven-Goran Eriksson's first game as England manager.
By then he was a Middlesbrough player, the Tees-side club having paid a then club record £8 million to take him away from Villa in November, 2000. The deal almost did not happen because West Brom had put-in a sell-on clause when Ehiogu had joined city rivals Villa and they were due 50 per cent of the fee. However, the deal went ahead and Ehiogu and Southgate were reunited.
He was injured on his debut against Charlton Athletic, but went on to play over 150 games for Middlesbrough, with whom he won the League Cup in 2003-04. This win, over Bolton Wanderers, gave Middlesbrough the first trophy in the club's history and a first taste of European football.
Ehiogu had sustained a bad knee injury at the start of that season and recurrences of this were to blight the remainder of his career. He had a loan spell with Leeds in November, 2006, while a possible return to first club West Brom was scuppered by an injury crisis at 'Boro.
His Leeds loan spell came just before he joined Rangers. Then, when he joined Sheffield United, his run of injuries continued and, at the end of the 2008-09 season, he was one of the players released as the Blades had to cut costs.
He had a brief and unsuccessful trial with MK Dons at the start of season 2009-10, after which he hung up his boots, although, in 2012, he was one of a clutch of former professionals to be signed by non-league Wembley FC for their FA Cup campaign.
He then turned to coaching, and was one of Peter Taylor's assistants with the England under-20 team before, in 2014, he joined Tottenham. Initially he worked with the club's under-16 youngsters, but he was soon appointed under-21 coach, a post he held when he died. He was being seen as one of the brightest and best young coaches in the English game and a big coaching future was being forecast for him.
Away from football, he helped form the Dirty Hit record label and he was well-known for his love of and support for music. He was also a man with a social conscience and one of his final tweets prior to his death revealed he had given £10 to a homeless girl.
He was supervising the Tottenham Under-21 team's training at their Enfield training ground on Thursday when he suddenly collapsed. Club medical staff and paramedics tried to revive him, before he was taken to hospital. He died in the early hours of Friday morning.
Ehiogu had married Gemma Coleman in 2005. She survives him with their two children, son Obi Jackson and daughter Jodie.
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