Allen praises Clarke medical aid

Leicester boss Martin Allen has paid tribute to the club's medical staff for their treatment of defender Clive Clarke, who collapsed on Tuesday.

Clarke, 27, is thought to have suffered two heart failures at half-time in the Carling Cup match at Nottingham Forest.

He was treated with a defibrillator in the dressing room and spent the evening in a "stable" condition in hospital.

"Our medics were outstanding," said Allen. "Clive is sitting up exhausted, but very grateful to them."

Clarke's agent Gary Mellor told BBC Radio Stoke he did not know when the left-back would be released from Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre.

"Clive is sitting up and talking and he is going to have more tests at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon," said Mellor.

"They won't give us any idea as to when he will be released. They don't want to tell us anymore until they know exactly what happened.

"It appears Clive's heart stopped twice and mouth-to-mouth didn't work so the paramedics had to use a defibrillator.

"His family are very upset, especially after what happened with the Sevilla player Antonio Puerta dying recently. We just hope he's going to be OK."

The game was abandoned at half-time after Clarke's sudden collapse, with Forest leading 1-0 through Junior Agogo's header.

Allen said Clarke, on loan at the club from Sunderland, would have to undergo more tests to find out exactly what caused his illness.

"We do not know how it happened or why it happened," he added. "It would be wrong at this moment to enter into any more details until further tests have been carried out.

"But Dave Rennie and Damien Doyle were brilliant at coping with what was a traumatic and difficult situation.

"We are lucky both members of staff were on hand at such a difficult and testing time."

Leicester chief executive Tim Davies said all the club's thoughts were with the Republic of Ireland international and he also paid tribute to Forest.

"When Clive went into the dressing-room he collapsed and was very seriously ill," said Davies.

"This is the first time we are aware of anything happening to Clive. He was taken away in an ambulance to hospital and he did offer a few words in the ambulance.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Clive and his family, we hope he makes a speedy recovery.

"I would like to say a big thank you to Nottingham Forest for dealing with the matter so fast and to [manager] Colin Calderwood, [chief executive] Mark Arthur and [chairman] Nigel Doughty for calling off the match so quickly.

"We want to apologise to the fans who came here but I am sure they understand sometimes serious injuries are more important."

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn and manager Roy Keane also sent their best wishes to Clarke.

"The Leicester and Forest officials reacted magnificently in the circumstances," said Quinn.

"Our thoughts and prayers are still very much with Clive and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery."

Keane added: "He's one of our players and fingers crossed, please God, he'll be OK. We wish him well."

Source: BBC Sport