The news that Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne has been admitted to a hospital following a disturbance at a northern hotel doesn't come as a complete surprise to anybody who has followed the ups and downs of his life and times. Gazza illuminated the English club scene and the international scene for such a short time that his career is a source of celebration, frustration and what if? The game at Wembley for England against Czechoslovakia before Italia 90 is up there with Alan Hudson's debut, Hurst's Hat-Trick, Bobby Charlton's display against Portugal in 1966 and the 4-1 win over Holland in Euro 96 as shining beacons in a litany of under achievements by our national side.
Gascoigne first came to my attention through the Saint and Greavsie show on ITV on Saturday lunchtimes. Gazza, the mars bar eating, Ipswich Town rejected, home grown hero, who was working his magic for Newcastle - a club that was, and still is, long on heroes and short on silverware. In 1988, after three years at Newcastle, London beckoned and Gazza teamed up with Terry Venables at Tottenham, another football personality with more column inches to his legend than silverware.
The collective public memory of Gazza is of course was Italia 90 and Gazza's tears. The World Cup plus the aftermath of Hillsbrough transformed the English game. Suddenly the people going to football matches knew bugger all about it, it wasn't just women who didn't understand the offside rule it was the bloke sat next to you who came straight to the ground from his job in the city before flying off to Val D'Isere for a weekend skiing. The start of the World Cup was a rollercoaster ride for English fans. The Group F matches in Cagliari and Palermo which also featured Egypt, Ireland and Holland were almost anti-football, with the thunderstorms and the constant threat of hooliganism there to divert your attention from the crap being served up on the pitch. Then of course came Gazza's floated free kick in Bologna to David Platt and suddenly England were playing Cameroon in Naples. Gary Lineker dragged his feet a couple of times, something I can only imagine a ten year old Michael Owen was watching and learning from as he would repeat the trick eight years later in St.Etienne against Argentina, and England were in Turin to meet the old enemy. The fact that we didn't make the final, courtesy of Pearce, Waddle and Paul Parker's arse, was probably a relief, the sight of a blubbing Gazza on the touchline as we lost to Argentina would have been too much to bear. But Gazza's tears and Gary Linekers signal to Bobby Robson to 'keep and eye on him' entered football folklore and paved the way for a thousand or so Gazzas Tears t-shirts and a couple of hundred thousand converts to the game.
The 1991 FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley was the high point of the El Tel-Gazza union, with Gascoigne showing Nayim (1995) Ronaldinho (2002) and Gianfranco Zola (2003) the way to beat David Seaman from 40 yards or so as Spuds rolled over the competition favourites Arsenal on the way to meeting Brian Clough's Notts Forest. In the final Gascoigne seemed to be playing on pure adrenalin and was lucky not to have been sent off by Roger Milford for one of the most bizarre tackles in the history of the FA Cup when he attempted to flick some phlegm off Garry Parker's chin with his boot. In one of those 'sliding doors' moments you have to wonder what would have happened if Milford had sent him off because within five minutes Gazza tried to tackle (and the word tackle is used in its loosest sense) Gary Charles just outside the Notts Forest penalty area and that as they say was that.
Gazza was injured for so long you wondered if he would ever play for Lazio, the transfer had been agreed to save Tottenham from financial meltdown long before the Cup Final. He came back from that and every Saturday during his stay in Italy he would appear on Channel 4's Football Italia and predict the scores in the next days Serie A matches. It was a pointless exercise in many respects but it helped to remind the English public that he was still alive and almost kicking. After a brief spell in Italian football Gascoigne returned to Britain and played for Glasgow Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton, Burnley and following a brief spell in China, Boston United.
Just as he had done in Italia 90 so Gascoigne lit-up the 1996 European Championships. His goal at Wembley against Scotland was followed up with good performances against Holland and then Germany, although Gascoigne's lack of fitness showed in extra time when he failed to connect with a cross and the match, which would have been won with his Golden Goal, drifted away from England before disappearing over the horizon with Gareth Southgate's penalty miss.
The last of his 57 England caps came before the 1998 World Cup, a competition he didn't take part in after Glenn Hoddle dropped him from the initial squad that had gone to North Africa for the warm-up matches. Gascoigne has been known for a number of years to have problems, whether drinking or strange behaviour or the infamous wife beating, there have been many theories put forward ranging from him being neglected as a child to him being bi-polar.
Whatever happened at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead last night isn't really something I'm interested in. The fact that he is now undergoing treatment and is no longer in police custody, having previously been detained under the Mental Health Act, is something that anybody who has enjoyed the high points of his career will hope can ease whatever pain he is in and flush out some of those demons.
2 comments:
A friend of Mum's(Male)who goes walking two or three times a week a few years ago when Paul Gasgoine was playing for a team in the North East had been to the training ground and was driving away.
He came across my Mum's friend walking a country road, stopped his car and offered him a lift.
The friend turned the offer down but what a nice gesture.
I think he's a nice guy Gildy, he just needs help. Football isn't very good at helping its own.
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