Steve Cotterill opens up on vicious Covid battle that left him in intensive care
Steve Cotterill will never be daunted by the battle to keep Forest Green Rovers in the Football League after spending seven weeks in intensive care fighting Covid.
If you watched Breathtaking, the harrowing ITV drama on the NHS front line during the pandemic, you wouldn’t have seen any patients pedalling away on an exercise bike or doing step-ups on the windowsill while still plugged into the oxygen supply.
And none of the characters was conducting half-time pep talks to his players via a laptop with the sats machine (measuring oxygen saturation in the bloodstream) beeping away at his bedside.
Cotterill effectively turned his isolation room at Bristol Royal Infirmary into a gym to wage war against severe symptoms of the virus which killed 230,000 people in Britain. Crackpot Covid deniers from a parallel universe who peddle conspiracy theories about the pandemic should read the FGR manager’s story.
Cotterill fought so hard to stay alive that he once admitted being frightened to go to sleep in case he didn’t wake up. Now he’s bringing his “ultra-competitive” nature to a hilltop in sleepy Nailsworth, and he’s restored to rude health after the steroids pumped into his system to combat the plague left his face swollen.
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But if Cotterill, 59, performed miracles in Salop to keep Shrewsbury safe in mid-table from his ITU bed, now he needs another one at vegan warriors Forest Green, six points adrift of safety in League Two.
Steve Cotterill is now steering the ship at Forest Green Rovers after his Covid scare (Getty Images)Don’t write them off: He has been an able troubleshooter at Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and as Harry Redknapp ’s sidekick at Birmingham. “I would be interested to watch that series (Breathtaking) because of the experiences I had in hospital,” he said.
“But I’ve had my head buried in a laptop studying Tranmere before we play them this weekend. I had it bad with Covid - you don’t end up in intensive care a couple of times (33 days first time, 15 days with complications arising from it) if it’s not bad - but I was one of the lucky ones because there were thousands who died from it.
“I was in isolation, in a room by myself, and I spent something like 80 out of 89 days in bed. When I was in hospital I kept having discussions with the nurses and doctors about what comes first - your breathing or your strength?
Cotterill grateful to be back at work at his desk in Shrewsbury“To get up and go to the toilet was nigh-on impossible because I didn’t have the strength to get out of bed. I felt I needed to get stronger to help my breathing so I could cut my oxygen dependence, so I wrote an exercise programme for myself that I had to commit to every day.
“I had a massive window in my room, but it only looked out on to a brick wall, which wasn’t particularly inspiring, so I used to do step-ups on the windowsill and dips off it - all while I was still plugged into the oxygen supply.
“And I asked for an exercise bike to be brought up into my room with a portable oxygen tank. They had to turn the oxygen up when I got on the bike, and then I used to do press-ups on my bed because I was determined to get stronger and I needed some focus.
Steve Cotterill celebrates after helping Harry Redknapp to keep Birmingham in the Championship (Birmingham Mail)“I was also writing up training plans for Aaron Wilbraham, my assistant at Shrewsbury, and trying to watch their games. When I was out of intensive care, and off the critical list I suppose, I was allowed to watch the games on a laptop and speak to the players before kick-off and at half-time.
“I had plenty to focus on - football and family gave me plenty to fight for. Even though it’s been tough, I’ve really enjoyed my time at Forest Green so far - I work for some really good, generous people and staff.
“And I’ve inherited a group of players who have maybe lost their way a bit and are better than the table shows, so I feel very happy coming into work every day - and very thankful as well.”
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Forest Green are on their fifth manager in eight months. After Duncan Ferguson left the New Lawn last July, academy boss Hannah Dingley briefly became the first woman to take charge of a League club, then Dave Horseman and Troy Deeney came and went.
Troy Deeney failed to win a game as Forest Green manager (Getty Images)Performances, if not results, improved under Deeney until he shot himself in the foot by slaughtering his players in public. Cotterill is a safe pair of hands but a fierce adversary - as that killer virus found out.
He said: “I am ultra-competitive, in the nicest possible way, and I try not to look too far ahead, but three points could put us within touching distance of the pack.
“I’ve been at Forest when they were bottom of the league and went into Bristol City when they were heading for a second successive relegation, so there’s been quite a few challenges.
“What make this one probably more difficult than others is the short timespan.”
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