Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba able to walk as he continues his recovery

BOLTON manager Owen Coyle has confirmed Fabrice Muamba has been walking around in hospital as the Wanderers midfielder continues his remarkable recovery following his on-field collapse last month.

Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest in the first half of the Trotters’ FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham on 17 March, with the game subsequently being abandoned.

The former England Under-21 international, who turns 24 today, received treatment on the pitch before being carried off on a stretcher and rushed to the London Chest Hospital.

It has emerged that it took 78 minutes for his heart to start working on its own again, but Muamba has made incredible progress since then and last Friday a picture of him sitting up in his hospital bed and smiling was posted on Twitter.

Asked yesterday morning for an update on the player, Coyle said: “He has done some short periods of walking down the corridor he is in as part of the unit, staying in intensive care. He is taking steps, talking and has that big smile which we love to see, so he is certainly progressing the right way.”

He added: “My chairman Phil Gartside was there yesterday with our club doctor Jonathan Tobin, and our club chaplain Phil Mason will be there today to continue the support from the football club.

“A couple of players have been sending him messages and we are keeping in touch. It has been great to see that smile and he continues to get better. We have to stress that he still has a long way to go, but the improvement has been remarkable and long may that continue.”

Coyle, meanwhile, feels his Barclays Premier League manager of the month award reflects the achievement of the club as a whole over a testing few weeks. Wanderers were second from bottom after a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City at the beginning of March, but go into this weekend’s home game against Fulham in 16th, a point clear of the drop zone with eight games left – one more than the four teams below them. That surge is down to a sequence of three straight league victories – all against fellow strugglers in QPR, Blackburn and Wolves – which represents Bolton’s best run of form in the top flight since 2006.

Notably, the last two wins came after the traumatic Muamba incident and Coyle has paid tribute to the way the entire club has handled a difficult period.

“The award is lovely, but really it is for the football club,” Coyle said. “As much as they call it ‘manager of the month’, it is very much a collective effort at our football club. The players, staff and fans have been incredible, so on behalf of everybody I’d say we are delighted to pick it up.”