England great Stuart Pearce has health scare as plane makes emergency landing | OneFootball

Former England international Stuart Pearce is in “great spirits” in hospital after suffering a health scare on a flight from Las Vegas, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.

The Virgin Atlantic aircraft was bound for London Heathrow on Monday but Pearce, who was with his partner, fell ill on the flight and it was forced to divert its path and land in Canada.

Pearce was met by medical services at the St John’s International Airport, Newfoundland, with the plane forced to land at the easternmost point of Canada before crossing the Atlantic.

According to reports, Pearce was then taken to hospital before the plane continued to London. The 62-year-old was in Las Vegas to watch the Super League match between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves last weekend.

Commentator Sam Matterface, whom Pearce works alongside for radio station TalkSport, reported that he had spoken with Pearce while he is in hospital.

“I spoke to him yesterday, he’s in great spirits,” Matterface said on TalkSport, ahead of the commentary between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, two of Pearce’s former clubs.

“He isn’t 100 per cent, that is definitely the case, but he is in the right place, he is in the hospital. They are dealing with it.

“He is a little bit disappointed about not being here today, he was most frustrated about that. He actually said to me, ‘I have got so much I had to cancel. Some great games and Mumford and Sons are playing on Wednesday night and I can’t go now’.

“He wasn’t happy about that. He is in good spirits.”

Pearce won 78 England caps and played key roles at the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96 tournaments. He played more than 400 games for Nottingham Forest, and appeared for Coventry, Newcastle, West Ham and Manchester City, who he also managed.

Incidentally, Forest and City played against each other in the Premier League’s early kick-off and Saturday and there was a moment of appreciation for Pearce in the third minute.

Both sets of supporters wished the 62-year-old to get well soon, as Forest fans chanted his endearing nickname of “Psycho” at the City Ground.

Pearce has recently worked as a pundit for TalkSport and was a member of David Moyes’s backroom team at West Ham, a position he left in 2022.