It's the wit and wisdom of Glenn Hoddle that really grabs the attention. Here truly is a man for the new millennium, a icon at whom England's youth may gaze in awe-filled pride (or could until he was fired). Or maybe he is just plain stupid?
For answers, turn please to the man himself. The following quotes need to be read in Estuary English - that is, the version of the language as spoken increasingly in the south-east of England: the estuary is the Thames, the accent a kind of EastEnders meets the Artful Dodger (minus the art).
By way of explaining his comments that the disabled were somehow paying for sins in a previous life (the karma was working from another life, he said) Hoddle offered the following when interviewed on ITN: "The only reason people are saying I should resign is that they are saying I have come out and said that people disabled and handicapped have been paying for their sins, and I have never ever said that. I don't believe that. At this moment in time, if that changes in years to come I don't know, but what happens here today and changes as we go along that is part of life's learning and part of your inner beliefs." Quite.
For further clarification, Hoddle added: "At this moment in time I did not say them things . . . " Hmmm.
In another gem, given to viewers of Sky, he discussed his beliefs - which appear to be an eclectic soup of New Ageism, Christianity and Buddhism, with a generous dollop from Eileen Drewery's crystal ball thrown in for good measure - and noted: "I've never not said I don't believe in reincarnation." What, in God's name, does that actually mean?
Poor humiliated Hoddle. He seems to be a pleasant enough bloke and while he may not be stupid, he is certainly inarticulate. Painfully so. The man is utterly incapable of expressing himself, of putting words to his thoughts in such a way that other people can understand what he is thinking. Let alone what he is saying.
But Hoddle represents, or so it seems to me, something very strong in certain recesses of English society - a contempt for education. Hoddle signed for Tottenham in 1974 aged 16 and turned professional a year later aged 17. No doubt that before signing for Tottenham, he spend most of his waking hours playing football. His formal education therefore was minimal. In this he is not alone. Many English children leave school aged 16 with virtually no qualifications. Indeed, many who go on to achieve material success regard their ignorance as a matter of some pride. This contempt for education, for formal structured learning, is long-standing but reached a peak in the 1980s when the only thing that mattered was to get out and earn money. Loads-a-money.
What you end up with is a Hoddle. A high achiever in one tiny, narrow area of life (and he was, by all accounts, an inspiring footballer), earning £350,000 a year but someone who is evidently incapable of communicating with the rest of mankind.
And in search of some understanding of life, or of a way of expressing himself spiritually, he turns to a faith healer whose influence gradually extends, apparently, to selecting who plays football for England. You couldn't make it up.