SHREWSBURY boss Steve Cotterill has revealed he was ‘frightened to go to sleep’ during his long battle with coronavirus over fears he wouldn’t wake up.
The 56-year-old was admitted to intensive care after testing positive for Covid-19 in January after an outbreak at the club.
Cotterill has since struggled with effects of long Covid – and was even readmitted to hospital with Covid-pneumonia in February before later suffering a punctured lung.
The boss has admitted he’s ‘still not right’ but has reported back for Shrews duty ahead of the 2021-22 season.
On his ordeal, Cotterill told BBC Sport: “I was frightened to go to sleep because I wasn’t sure if I was going to wake up.
“My eyes opened around 4am. I thought ‘this is good, at least I have woken up.'”
Cotterill began to feel ill in January after he joined in with his Shrewsbury players during an enthusiastic training session.
That night the manager awoke in the middle of the night with his hotel bed ‘absolutely drenched’ with sweat.
During his ten-day isolation Cotterill revealed he ‘lost a stone-and-a-half and barely got out of bed’.
But his Covid nightmare didn’t end there, as he told the BBC: “Then the cough started.
“It was really bad. I was force feeding and drinking. I felt awful.
“I remember coughing one morning thinking ‘I am going to pass out’.
“We had to call an ambulance. That is when I started to get a little bit worried.”
‘STILL NOT RIGHT’
Now past the worst of it, Cotterill has confessed he’s still not 100 per cent.
He claimed: “I am still not right. I am a bit fat in the face and around the middle. I don’t like that.
“I still have some scarring on my lungs.
“Being ill was really getting me down then. I was thinking ‘is there going to be any daylight here?'”
Now, Cotterill will look to the future, with his Shrewsbury looking to improve on their 17th-placed finish in League One last term.
Cotterill added: “I was in a bad way. I have fought really hard to get where I am and I have to keep on fighting.
“I’m feeling much better than I was. I had a goal to be back here. I knew I had to be here by July 1.
“I’m OK, I’m here, fit, strong and healthy but not quite as fit, strong and healthy as I was. But I will get back there.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
