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‘Under the expert guidance of Terry Venables, Gascoigne developed into an international class footballer’.

As a young and rising star on the football field, Gascoigne’s behaviour was to become more and more erratic. He would grimace, swear and displayed facial tics. It lay undiagnosed, but Gazza showed all the signs of a Tourette’s sufferer.

Being labelled by psychologists as hyperactive, and suffering with attention deficit disorder, OCD, manic depression, paranoia, and bulimia, they tried to analyse and put a label on his bizarre and unpredictable behaviour to make it more acceptable

Now after a decade on of alcohol abuse, Gazza is back once again; clean, looking to the future, and optimistic.

Fresh out of re-hab, on the Tony Adams rehab programme; Paul Gascoigne is trying to right his wrongs.

Whilst at rehab Gazza found poetry a great solace and he took to writing his own; mainly concerning his ups and downs with his biggest enemy, alcohol.

At the height of his drink abuse he was downing 30 cans of Special Brew and 4 bottles of whiskey a day. He thought the Bible was talking to him and that lighters were monitoring his conversations.

So convinced that lighters would be his downfall, Gazza was buying 20 different coloured lighters, throwing 19 away and keeping one, thinking this would solve the problem.

Mental insanity brought on by drink and drug abuse was taking its hold and destroying the mind of this former world class footballer.

Possibly one of the greatest players of our time, Gazza was hell bent on self destruction. Like George Best before him, alcohol destroying his career and all aspects of his personal life.

Now, after a career beset with emotional problems Gazza is now back and on good form mentally after his latest stint in rehab; His glittering football career seeming a lifetime away -

At his peak, Gazza was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year after an emotional performance at Italia 90. He cried in the semi final after receiving a booking which would have seen him suspended for the final had England won.

An injury in the 1991 FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest prevented him from playing for more than a year. As he recovered from injury, he moved to Series A side Lazio for a fee of £5.5 million.

Beset by injury and intrusive media interest, he had little success playing for his new club side and returned to the UK in June 1995 to play for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. After scoring a hat-trick in the final game of the season against Aberdeen, he was awarded the title of Scottish Player of the Season”.

“His career hit its peak in the 90’s during Euro 96, Gascoigne enjoyed arguably the best form of his life, scoring a spectacular goal against Scotland and coming within an inch of tapping in a goal from Steve McManaman’s cross against Germany in the team’s ill-fated and emotionally charged semi final, where Gazza shed tears again after England lost on penalties.

Problems with form, injury and discipline saw him omitted from the France 98 squad by coach Glenn Hoddle, Gascoigne was never to play for his country again.

Glenn Hoddle was England manager in the summer of 1998 and he controversially left Gazza out of England’s squad, blaming Gascoigne’s form, injuries and discipline.

In his autobiography, Gascoigne describes an angry and tearful exchange between himself and Hoddle, in which Gascoigne wrecked the manager’s office at training camp.

Gazza was upset not only at his omission from the squad, but also the manner in which Hoddle was informing players whether or not they had been selected, by inviting them to his office one at a time.

The nation was in uproar including the British tabloids that recognised the public’s love him and called for Paul Gascoigne’s return to the team. One newspaper even started a petition to “Bring back Gazza”.

Meanwhile, Hoddle took England to the quarter finals where they were eliminated on penalties by arch-rivals Argentina. Gazza was controversially sacked the following spring for non-footballing reasons, after non-politically correct comments he made about the disabled to a journalist were reported.

Many commentators on the game considered Gascoigne to be one of the most naturally gifted footballers of his generation, however tabloid coverage of his private life revealed heavy drinking, personal problems with his marriage, and numerous child-like pranks.

As British football became more professional and clubs adopted highly disciplined regimes more akin to other athletic sports, Gascoigne’s lifestyle did not compare favourably to many of his competitors for an England shirt.

“He had joined Middlesbrough in 1998 but continuing problems with drink led to him being released from his contract. Gascoigne then joined Everton and after a period of rehabilitation from his now acknowledged problem with alcoholism, he then moved on to Burnley.

In 2002, Gascoigne went on trial with US club D.C. United, but failed to win a contract.
He then joined Chinese club Gansu Tianma, but failed to find his earlier form, and left after playing just four games”.

In 2004, Gazza joined Football League Two club, Boston United as player/coach and after making five appearances in which he didn’t score any goals, he left to become manager of Kettering Town.

This too was short-lived and his role ended just 39 days later when Gascoigne was dismissed by the board. Gascoigne’s alcohol problems were the cause, with the owner of the club’s stating that Gazza drank almost every day he worked.

Paul Gascoigne married Cheryl Failes in 1996 and adopted her two children Mason and Bianca. They also went on to have a son of their own, Regan.

They split up less than a year later and divorced in1998. Gazza later admitted assaulting her in a series of uncontrollable, drunken rages. The children have also stated that he beat them too.

He also admitted that he never actually wanted to get married and that he had possibly never loved her either.

Gazza suffers from mental health problems, which are aggravated by his alcoholic tendencies. He has attempted suicide and said that he had to be revived 3 times after his heart failed.

Since retiring from football, Gascoigne has behaved in an increasingly erratic way, often under the influence of alcohol; his children, nephews, family and friends, afraid of him and what he will do next.

His aggressive tendencies and increasingly erratic behaviour proving way too unpredictable to be around in safety; He would lash out at the most innocuous of things.

Now with this ‘Latest’ come-back after his time at the rehab, his family all rally round, proud of his recent accomplishments.

Sitting at the tea-table, Gazza asks his nephews: “I’m not drunk, am I?” seemingly needing constant reassurance of the fact.

It seemed a rather sad question for this once great footballer to be asking of his young nephews and one which is quite inappropriate also.

He says this is it. He’ll never touch another drop. I wish him luck, I really do, but I’m not holding my breath.

He gave the reason for him head-butting, punching and beating the cr** out of his wife Cheryl. He said she called his mother “a whore”, with a look on his face which belied the statement. A statement which I don’t believe for a second anyway, but the sad thing is; I think he probably does.

Living in his strange twilight world where lighters are informants and Bibles which talk to him, I think Gazza will need ongoing psychiatric help for the rest of his days in this almost final bid to overcome the demon drink.

He has been sectioned several times and has also undergone therapy for bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and alcoholism.

Paul Gascoigne as a sporting, social, and cultural phenomenon is a fascinating subject, but he is also a man with a huge amount of inner pain and dark demons.

He says in a slurred, almost incoherent voice that his life has been “One hell of a battle”. That he has lived “10 years on the edge”, and that “he doesn’t know what love is”.

Finally he states “No-one will ever be as great as I was”. - What a shame he didn’t actually realise his full potential. To lose his god given talent to the bottle will be something that he will surely live to regret to the end of his days. -