IT'S not so long ago that Karl Henry and Clive Clarke were running out of the tunnel together at the Britannia Stadium.

Tomorrow, as Wolves midfielder Henry makes his latest return to Stoke, his former Potters team-mate will remain in a hospital bed continuing his recovery from a double cardiac arrest suffered during half time of Leicester's Carling Cup tie at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.

Thankfully it appears 27-year-old Clarke, on loan from Sunderland, is on the mend following the latest in a string of similar incidents to have hit the game, several with even more tragic circumstances.

For Henry, who spent around four years in the first team picture alongside Clarke just up the M6, the news came as a nasty shock in the wake of Wolves' misery of the footballing kind at the hands of Morecambe on Tuesday evening.

And at the same time quickly brought home a stark sense of perspective.

"There we were, devastated and embarrassed at how we had played, and then we heard that news," says Henry. "Very quickly it put everything into perspective.

"The fact that a footballer, and a friend of mine, had ended up in that condition with his heart stopping twice was terrible.

"I've not spoken to him yet so I don't know how he's feeling but it's an awful thing to happen.

"I'm good mates with Kris Commons who was also at Stoke with Clive and myself and was playing for Forest on Tuesday.

"He said he was speaking to Clive going in at half time and then five minutes later someone came in and said one of the players was in trouble.

"I was with Clive for a few years at Stoke and got on well with him.

"He was few years older than me but stayed in the same digs when I was a young lad and we were in the team together when he was captain for a while.

"He did really well and got a move to West Ham, and then on to Sunderland.

"He's only 27, had played regularly for Stoke, year-in year-out so you just wonder why something like this should happen now.

"I just hope he makes a quick recovery and that if he wants to carry on playing that this is not the end for his football.

"I think Kanu had heart trouble and then had a valve fitted many years ago and he hasn't had a problem since."

Clarke's frightening ordeal comes at a time when football has been hit with a spate of similar tragedies over the last ten days.

Walsall trainee Anton Reid collapsed and died on the training ground last week, Sevilla's Spanish international defender Antonio Puerta passed away three days after suffering a heart attack during a game last weekend, while Zambian striker Chaswe Nsofwa died on Wednesday after collapsing during training.

"It's a scary thing, and I was sat at home talking to my girlfriend on Wednesday and feeling a bit worried," adds Henry.

"I don't know whether it's something about football, whether we're pushing ourselves to the limit to get so fit and whether the game is now so intense that this is happening.

"All the lads here have been talking about it - when it happens to someone you knew and played with or against it really brings it home.

"Of course you want to go out and win football matches but you don't want something like this and hopefully it won't happen to anyone else."

Of course life, football, does go on, and to that end Henry is focusing on tomorrow's latest return to his first professional club where he spent seven up-and-down years.

In January of last season he went back as Wolves captain in a 1-1 draw.

But this time around, with Seyi Olofinjana and Darren Potter the men in possession, he appears likely to start on the bench.

"Of course I'd love to be involved in the game," admitted Henry, who is still on speaking terms with a sprinkling of the Potters squad.

"As I've said before, I was at Stoke for a number of years and had a great time there. But as things stand it looks like Seyi and Darren are the first two for the central midfield spots and I've just got to do my best to try and get in there.

"It's a long season and I'm sure I'll get an opportunity, and when it comes I have to take it.

"It's not the first time I've been left out of the starting eleven and while it can be difficult it's no good moping around.

"You've just got to keep plugging away and working hard and showing the willingness that if the chance does come along you make sure you take it."