Mrs Keegan to be faith healer

IF THE Football Association thought it had rid itself of the spiritual healing controversy after the England manager Glenn Hoddle was sacked, it may have to think again.

A Channel 4 documentary to be broadcast next Tuesday claims that not only are members of the England team still seeing the "healer" Eileen Drewery, but Jean Keegan, the wife of the new England manager, is training to be a healer too. Kevin Keegan is known to have consulted a healer in the past, but the revelation that the healing business has taken root closer to home will dismay those who hoped Hoddle and his "twaddle" was history.

Sharon Doughty, producer of Hoddle and the Healer, said Mrs Keegan had been training for "quite some time", but had refused to appear in the documentary. "She felt that in the early days of learning things one does not have much to add," said Ms Doughty, also a "healing convert".

Mr Hoddle and Mrs Drewery are the main contributors to the 50-minute programme, although Mrs Drewery's husband, Phil, adds to the reincarnation furore that led to Mr Hoddle's sacking, by suggesting he may have been a murderer in a previous life. It occurred to him after watching the film Braveheart, he said.

Among the England players who consulted Mrs Drewery are Darren Anderton, Paul Merson, Ian Wright, Sol Campbell and Gareth Southgate, according to the programme.

Lawrie McMenemie, the former Southampton manager, said he once sent "a well-known international footballer" to a healer. "When we got there she had a fag in one hand and a gin and tonic in the other," he said.