REVEALED: Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer’s Wembley ground collapse was caused by an irregular heartbeat as he says he has the green light to play again, 10 days later, after a ‘little procedure “
Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer has revealed he has been given the green light to return to action – ten days after he collapsed at Wembley in the Championship play-off final.
The 28-year-old fell to the ground while running back at the start of their game against Coventry City.
He was taken to hospital, where he watched as his teammates sealed promotion to the Premier League with a penalty shoot-out victory.
Lockyer, in an interview with sky sportsrevealed that the sudden collapse was caused by an irregular heartbeat and that he was cleared to resume his activities after a “little procedure”.
He said, ‘I’m fine. It’s been a crazy week. I got the green light yesterday [Monday] and everything is fine moving forward.
Luton captain Tom Lockyer has revealed he has been cleared to return to action
Lockyer collapsed in their Championship play-off final win, and he revealed it was caused by an irregular heartbeat and he had a ‘minor operation’ afterwards.
Lockyer revealed he was ‘lucky’ and had the ‘least serious heart condition’ he could possibly have
‘I have been very lucky. They knew right away what it was and it was not life threatening. It was atrial flutter, which is an irregular heartbeat, so my heart wasn’t responding as it should in those situations.
“It’s probably the least serious heart condition you can have and I had a little surgery on Wednesday (May 31) to correct it and it should never happen again.”
Lockyer went on to admit that he “didn’t feel anything” when it happened and wondered how he ended up on the floor.
He added: “It’s quite funny, really – I didn’t feel anything at all. I had a big chance with the head and got a little excited because of it, thinking I scored at Wembley.
“Then I was just running backwards, my head was really light and my legs got really weak straight away. I remember tripping backwards.
“I was told I was coming out as I collapsed and I was like ‘no, no, I’m fine! I wondered why I was on the floor, that’s when I realized and all the emotions were gone. When I left on the stretcher, (manager) Rob [Edwards] came up to me and said ‘don’t worry, we’ll win it for you’ and I was screaming my eyes out so I couldn’t answer.’
Lockyer after falling to the ground, appeared to pass out as he tried to get back to his feet.
He received medical attention for several minutes, before being removed from a stretcher and taken to hospital.
Luton players hold up Lockyer’s shirt as they celebrate promotion to the Premier League
Later in the day, he was pictured celebrating as he watched his teammates confirm their promotion with a 6-5 penalty shootout victory.
He was then pictured giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed on the Monday after the game as he watched his teammates celebrate their promotion with an open top bus parade through the streets of Luton.
Luton’s promotion is a remarkable turnaround given that just nine years ago the Hatters ended a five-season streak in the fifth tier of English football.
Lockyer will be looking to play a role as Luton play in the front row for the first time since 1992.
