Uri Geller: ‘I could have improved England’s World Cup chances’
Spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller says he could have improved England’s World Cup fortunes if Roy Hodgson had invited him to Brazil to motivate the team.
The illusionist said he would have been a positive inspiration to the players – who have had a pair of 2-1 losses so far in the finals – if he had been allowed access to their dressing room.
In an interview with Hello! magazine, Geller also told how he is quitting his huge home in Berkshire after 34 years and is moving back to his native Israel with wife Hanna to live in a small apartment.
Reflecting on England’s fortunes, he said: “I would be more than happy for England manager Roy Hodgson to invite me to Rio to help the team, but he hasn’t.
“He could have invited me to Brazil, I would have walked into the dressing room and I would have inspired the footballers and it would have something positive.
“He should have flown me out there. I’m still willing to get on a plane today and fly now. But managers are afraid of controversy, usually, and afraid of what the press will say.”
Geller – who has posed for the magazine with his 1976 Cadillac which is covered with bent spoons of the rich and famous including Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill – told how he is planning his move back to Jaffa in Israel to a small apartment which they chose because of the beautiful view.
“Ever since I left Israel, in 1972, there was always a spiritual magnetic urge for me to go back,” he said.
“I think it’s like that for almost every Israeli. If you’re born there, there is powerful mystical energy that gradually pulls you back. After roaming the world for 40 years, it’s time to go back to where I started.”
“You could say I was coming full circle. I was born in Israel and I grew up in poverty. I lived with my mother in a one-bedroom apartment, but when the first spoon broke in my hand [aged five], I told my mother I was going to make it, and make a better life for her.”
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