A former England and Tottenham star who has the most famous knee in football had his foot eaten by a rat.
Gary Mabbutt starred for Tottenham between 1982 and 1998 after breaking through at Bristol Rovers. The defender, who turned 64 last week, played 16 times for England despite being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 17. But that didn’t stop him from starring in the First Division and Premier League.
However, Mabbutt has arguably the most famous knee in football, for all the wrong reasons. He unfortunately put through his own net in extra-time in the FA Cup final against Coventry, helping the Sky Blues win their first and only FA Cup. Despite putting Spurs ahead in the final in the first-half, it’s his own goal that has gone down in Coventry folklore.
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Mabbutt revealed he still has Sky Blues supporters requesting to kiss his knee having inadvertently netted the decisive goal at Wembley in 1987 while attempting to intercept Lloyd McGrath’s cross. The ball deflected off his knee and looped over Ray Clemence.
His own goal transformed him into a legend amongst numerous City supporters and provided a fanzine with its title – but the Spurs club ambassador has embraced his connection with the Sky Blues.
He said: “Ninety-nine times out of 100, the ball would have hit my knee and gone out for a corner or fallen to Ray Clemence. But it hit the top of my knee and as soon as I turned, I could see it looping over Ray and realised he’s not going to get it.
“I remember going down on my haunches and thinking ‘aaagh’. I was distraught. I couldn’t believe it.
“Every Coventry fan I meet wants a picture taken of themselves kissing my left knee. I reckon this knee has been kissed more than any other in the world.
“Anywhere, Coventry fans would suddenly come out of the woodwork. Like the time I was walking through the centre of Cape Town with my family. This guy stops me and says: ‘Oh, Gary, you gave me the best moment of my life.’ I’m thinking, great, OK, must have been the UEFA Cup final.
“Or perhaps when I lifted the cup for Spurs. But then he says: ‘No, that own goal which won us the cup, it just made my life.’ You had to smile.”
Sadly, Mabbutt revealed he was no longer able to kick a ball or run again after he had to undergo surgery to save his leg from being amputated in 2013.
Mabbutt was under the knife for five hours as doctors replaced the main artery in his left leg. His diabetes had triggered peripheral arterial disease, which caused a blockage in the blood vessels in his leg.
He told the BBC: “I can no longer do any sport or go running, and my life is now a lot more sedentary. It is frustrating that I cannot kick a ball ever again, but I still have my leg, which is the most important thing.
“I was getting terrible pains in my left leg, which was freezing cold. I stayed up all night and called the specialist at 6 o’clock in the morning, and I was rushed to King’s College Hospital in London.
Due to his diabetes, Mabbutt also suffered a horrific incident when his foot was eaten by a rat while away in Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2018.
He revealed he couldn’t feel the rodent chewing on his toe and the underside of his foot due to his diabetes. Only when he woke up in a pool of blood did he realise what had happened.
Mabbutt said: “My daughter is at Cambridge University studying Veterinary Medicine and during the recess they have to do placements.
“She got a placement in South Africa in the Kruger Park. So I escorted her out there and we were staying in a thatched house about 16 miles from the nearest town.
“Unfortunately, due to the injuries through my career and some diabetes – I have very little feeling in my feet. So I’ve gone to sleep and during the night a rat has come has into the bedroom, climbed into the bed and decided to chew on my foot.”
He added: “It made quite a big hole in my toe going down to the bone and ate underneath my foot so it became infected. I then got home quite quickly and then I was in hospital for a week.”
The rat bite forced Gary to visit the hospital every day for two to three hours to be put on intravenous drips to get rid of the infection. The incident has also caused blood clots to form.
He added: “When you think about it all the opponents that I played against I finally get taken out by a rat.
“Firstly it bit my daughter’s thumb in the other bedroom and she came to me and said ‘Dad something’s bitten me’. Of course being in Africa you think of Snakes and scorpions.
“Unfortunately the rat had a nice meal, I hadn’t been able to feel it and of course I hadn’t woken up. It was quite fortunate that there weren’t two rats. Otherwise I might not have woken up and it could have been a lot worse.”