Ex-Portsmouth defender Gavin Maguire: I've beaten coronavirus - now I'm back with my NHS colleagues to continue our fight

The former Pompey player has been employed by Swindon’s Great Western Hospital since February, where his sister Linda also works.

Maguire last week admitted to The News he feared he had caught the coronavirus through his job.

The 52-year was subsequently diagnosed with disease following a high temperature and persistent cough.

Now he has recovered – and back at work to help the NHS in their fight to save others.

Maguire told The News: ‘On Saturday I could see a light at the end of the tunnel and pretty much very quickly you feel the coronavirus going.

‘The cough was my main symptom and I no longer had it, I’m not barking now!

‘The key was you had to be 24 hours without a temperature. As soon as that started coming down I was heading in the right direction.

‘I knew on Saturday I would be okay to go back to work this week. Just to be on the safe side, I left it until Tuesday, before working yesterday.

‘If I felt any doubt that I wasn’t well then I wouldn’t have gone back, for the sake of others.

‘It’s such a positive that I now have a job where we support each other. Yesterday, I was going into different wards and colleagues were asking how I was, they’re so pleased that you’re okay. It’s brilliant to feel that.

‘Quite rightly, there has been so much negativity about people who have succumbed to it – but we don’t hear enough of the positive stories about how many people are now surviving.

‘It was never touch and go for me, but I now fully understand how – should be you if you are in one of the brackets such as age or underlying health – you can quickly spiral in the wrong direction.

‘I now feel really, really good.’

During his fight against coronavirus, Maguire was touched by the support of football fans, particularly the Fratton faithful.

He made 109 appearances for the Blues from 1989 until 1993 as a defender and sometime midfielder.

Now he’s revelling in his responsibilities at Swindon's Great Western Hospital.

He added: ‘Anybody who has been flouting the rules or easing up, try spending two hours in a hospital with me.

‘You will see the repercussions of people not keeping their distance, it’s unbelievable.

‘The amount of deaths we are dealing with have now gone down, but we had previously been dealing with a ridiculous amount.

‘I love what I do and that’s what’s important to me. It’s about being happy and feeling you’re doing something worthwhile.

‘I want to thank all the Pompey fans, they have really shown how much they care about me, which I have always known, to be truthful.

‘At times like this, when you need it and are feeling low, it does help. It really does.’

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