'You know you broke seven of my ribs?' Glenn Hoddle joked as he hugged sound engineer who saved his life
Video report by ITV News Presenter Mary Nightingale
Simon Daniels paused for thought as he remembered the moment he finally felt a pulse in his childhood hero Glenn Hoddle while saving the ex-England manager's life.
The TV sound engineer had rushed to perform CPR when Hoddle suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the floor of the BT Sport studio in October minutes after being on air on his 61st birthday.
The crew member worked with such force on the former football star's unresponsive body that he heard ribs crack, though he was unaware of the scale of the breaks at the time.
Then, with Hoddle's heart stopped for more than a minute, he finally detected the first pumping sign of life.
"I knew what I was doing was giving him a fighting chance," Mr Daniels told ITV News Presenter Mary Nightingale as he recalled how his CPR, coupled with a defibrillator, kickstarted the former Tottenham midfielder's heart.
"When I could feel that pulse, I obviously felt I was doing the right thing.
"People said to me afterwards 'you must have been tired', I can't even remember how I felt."
Mr Daniels was delighted to be recently reunited with the recovering Hoddle at the football pundit's house five months on from the incident, which happened minutes after BT Sport's Saturday Morning Savage programme had ended.
He said Hoddle looked "great" and was in a joking mood as the TV engineer soon learned the impact of his chest pressing to keep his hero alive.
"I went into his house, he welcomed me and the first thing he did is, he gave me a big hug and I immediately hugged him back and he went: 'Ooooh not too hard' because he was still in a bit of pain," Mr Daniels said.
"And the second thing he said to me was: 'You know you broke seven of my ribs?' And we just had a laugh and it was lovely."
Mr Daniels says using the resuscitation techniques he learned as a special constable with Thames Valley Police to save a life is his life's greatest achievement.
But the sound engineer, who also works at ITV News, is still getting used to the praise he received from the football world.
"I don't see myself as a hero," he said.
"People like Robbie Savage, Harry Redknapp they all contacted me. It's kind of a bit strange that these heroes of mine are phoning me up saying: 'Are you alright Simon?'
"I don't think anything I've ever done is going to be topped by saving someone's life but this is Glenn Hoddle, he is a hero to the football world."
In an interview on Saturday Morning Savage, to be aired this weekend, Hoddle speaks of how the episode has made reflective.
He says: "It's not really what we achieve, material or career. That has hit me more and more. I had a belief like that anyway but wow, its how you do things are far more important than what you achieve."
Mr Daniels added learning CPR techniques is vital and encouraged others to learn the skills: “It’s really important that people learn CPR, learn first aid because you really don’t know when you’re going to need it," he said.
"It might be a work colleague, it might be a neighbour but if you can do something the chances of survival go up, if you can just do something.”
Would you know what to do if someone collapsed near you?
St John Ambulance has this advice to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) if an adult is unresponsive and not breathing:
CPR involves giving someone a combination of chest compressions and rescue breaths to keep their heart and circulation going to try to save their life.
If they start breathing normally again, stop CPR and put them in the recovery position. Follow more detailed instructions here.
To check if someone is unresponsive and not breathing, you need to assess the casualty using the primary survey:
If you find they’re unresponsive and not breathing then you’ll need to call 999/112 for emergency medical help.