UGO EHIOGU is still looking over the youngsters at Tottenham.

Spurs players say his guidance will never be forgotten as they approach a year since his tragic death – but there is also a 20-foot reminder on the staircase of the Academy.

10 Ugo Ehiogu and his wife Gemma together before the former England defender's tragic passing last year

They walk past his giant image every day, its sheer size making it impossible not to think of their coach.

Ehiogu’s wife, Gemma, sometimes walks past it too when she takes their son Obi to train at Spurs as a budding goalkeeper.

She says: “The youngsters asked the management for it, from what I understand.

“I don’t think any of us knew just what a huge influence he was on people. He’d be at work for 14 hours and would come home and be on the phone to a player who was upset about something.

10 Ugo Ehiogu urged his Twitter followers to #DoSomethingKind in one of his final tweets after giving a homeless girl £10 Credit: Twitter @UgoEhiogu

10 Tottenham's youngsters urged the club's management to put up a permanent tribute to their late coach at the training ground

“He had time for everybody. He went out of his way for everybody.

“The influence he had, none of us grasped how big it was until it was too late.

“That is my saddest thing. I don’t think even he knew how deeply loved he was.”

The respect and love for Ehiogu was seen at his funeral, the first Gemma had attended, let alone arranged.

10 Ugo Ehiogu lifts the League Cup with current England manager Gareth Southgate for Middlesbrough in 2004 Credit: Action Images - Reuters

10 Ehiogu had been coaching with Tottenham when he died Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Gareth Southgate paid respect to his great friend with a speech at St Michael’s Church in Highgate, others travelled from around the globe to be there.

To anyone who met him, it was heartbreaking and simply unfair that it was Ehiogu who suffered cardiac arrest at Tottenham’s training ground, on the Academy pitches where he nurtured so many talented youngsters to help them succeed in football.

Mauricio Pochettino was training with the first team at a different area of the club’s Enfield HQ and quickly heard about the situation, with Spurs medical staff trying to save him before an ambulance took him to hospital.

Gemma said: “I know what happened on that day. Without them he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he did.

Tottenham and Chelsea hold a minutes applause for tragic Ugo Ehiogu

“They administered the most amazing first aid and knew exactly what to do. Had it happened anywhere else, his chances would have been cut in half. It was the best chance he had.”

Football has a tendency to move on. Just days later Spurs lost an FA Cup semi-final to Chelsea and the line of questioning was about failing to win silverware, rather than the impact Ehiogu’s death would have on the club or the players he coached.

Gemma added: “They miss him as much as all of us. I think he has left a huge hole at Spurs and in their lives in particular.

“He was there for three years and saw them through from U16s and some of them went into the first team which was his biggest achievement as he had seen these teenagers and helped progress them. Who could ask for more?”

10 The former defender had been working towards furthering his career in management while coaching Tottenham's youngsters Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Gemma sometimes slips into the present tense when talking about her husband. In many ways he is still helping others.

She has carried on with Ehiogu’s Side-On charity to give football opportunity to kids, starting in Hackney where he was raised.

Gemma said: “He started playing on Hackney Marshes. It is more poignant to us and will always hold a special place in our hearts. It was where his dream began.

“It’s aimed to give young people the opportunity to play football regardless of ability or skill, to give them a purpose and the feeling of being in a group, something to look forward to, as opposed to not having many options in life.

10 Ehiogu celebrates scoring for England in a friendly against Spain at Villa Park back in 2001 Credit: Reuters

10 Tottenham fans paid tribute to Ehiogu last year in their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea Credit: Getty Images - Getty

“It was something Ugo started. His vision and dream that I was doing the admin for 18 months to two years ago but I’ve now picked up the reins on and am trying to see it through to fulfil his dream.”

Side-On have been working with other charities to help them start in Hackney but the plan is to expand and support others.

It gives Ehiogu a legacy, while his tragedy also raises questions of why a fit ex-Premier League player suffered cardiac arrest.

Gemma said: “It seems to be such a cruel, random act. I don’t think there is a format it is following, or a particular person, level of fitness or bad lifestyle choices.

“I think it was just one of those freak things that we could sit here for another 10 years discussing and nobody really knows why.

“That is the frustrating part of it from my point of view because I like reading into things being ‘because of this’ or ‘because of that’ and there is none of that.

10 The centre-back also enjoyed a fruitful stint at Aston Villa Credit: PA:Press Association

10 Stan Collymore, Ehiogu and Paul Merson celebrate while playing for Aston Villa Credit: PA:Empics Sport

“It will always be one of those things. It is not through lack of trying or investigation. It is just one of those things.

“I’d like to think more can be done because since it has happened it has happened since. It has happened before.

“There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I’m not a doctor and don’t profess to know about cardiology.

“I struggle to see how there couldn’t be more preventative measures for it but I don’t know the ins and outs of it. Even the top doctors don’t. The human body sometimes does crazy things.”

On Thursday, Gemma plans to mark the one year anniversary of Ehoigu’s Tweet where he revealed giving a homeless girl £10 in a random act of kindness.

She will #dosomethingkind as her husband did, and it is likely to start trending again on social media, adding to the legacy.