England and Tottenham Hotspur coach Justin Cochrane has spoken candidly about the devastating loss of his wife, Leeanne. Cochrane, who currently serves as assistant coach to Thomas Frank at Spurs, suffered the tragic loss of his wife in November 2024, when she was just 40 years old.

The 43-year-old was still employed at Brentford under Frank at the time, before accepting his position as part of Thomas Tuchel’s coaching team with the England national squad in February 2025. However, whilst continuing to develop his promising coaching career, he has been forced to cope with the unimaginable grief of losing the mother of his three sons to a rare form of thyroid cancer. Medical professionals initially informed the couple that her chances of survival were extremely limited.

Despite receiving treatment at the Royal Marsden hospital in London, Leeanne tragically died q0 months afterwards. Cochrane courageously discussed her passing in a recent Sky Sports interview, stating: “Going from everything going smoothly sailing to being a solo parent and organising everything around my family. Dealing with the shock while maintaining my work, it is difficult to put into words what I have experienced this last year.

“She was an incredible wife and mother, she was perfect for me and she brought balance to the family. She supported my journey in coaching and did whatever she could for the boys. My life was pretty much perfect and she was a massive part of that.

“Leeanne, although she did not have many symptoms of illness, after ten months she was no longer here. The decline was pretty quick and very tough to see as her husband and to manage as a father.

“It was incredibly tough, I had the support of the club [Brentford] and all the staff. I told the players quite early on as there would be times I would be away and they were all supportive. Christian Norgaard, the captain, was incredible throughout.

“That period was tough because there was hope that maybe she could beat this. But there was also realism if she did go and what would happen, I had less sleep then. After she passed, I probably slept five hours but before when she was ill and I was dealing with those thoughts, it was three hours.”

Reflecting on the initial period following Leeanne’s death, the former QPR and Millwall defender continued: “It was a bit of a daze, I was in shock, it felt like I was knocked out but I was still on my feet. I went into a mode to provide for my three sons, Leeanne spoke about me looking after them and myself.

“That gave me my strength, although the days were tough and the nights were long. Every time I got out of bed I had to find a way to get to the end of the day and some days were harder than others of course.

“Football was able to give a release and was able to help, a good training session with laughs and joy or a win on the weekend could give you a little lift. But then the reality sets in again and you keep going and you find a little way.”

Cochrane, who has had a community bench created in his wife’s memory near their home, is scheduled to attend the World Cup with England next summer.

Nevertheless, he recalled breaking down in tears on the team bus early in his Three Lions career when a particular song played through the speakers.

He said: “I was on the way to Wembley and a song came on the coach and I had been with the staff maybe five days. I just started crying, I was sat opposite Henrique Hilario, and in that moment he just knew and gave me a hug.

“He just saw what was required but it had just hit me, I had been fine for a few days but it hit me that she was not going to be with me that day.”