Paul Gascoigne

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Personal information
Paul Gascoigne
Full name	Paul John Gascoigne
Date of birth	May 27 1967 (age 42)
Place of birth	Gateshead, England
Nickname	Gazza
Position	Midfielder
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1985-1988</br>1988-1992</br>1992–1995</br>1995-1998</br>1998-2000</br>2000-2002</br>2002</br>2003</br>2004-2005	Newcastle United</br>Tottenham Hotspur</br>Lazio</br>Rangers</br>Middlesbrough</br>Everton</br>Burnley</br>Gansu Tianma</br>Boston United Total	107 (25)</br>112 (33)</br>47 (6)</br>104 (39)</br>48 (4)</br>38 (1)</br>6 (0)</br>4 (2)</br>6 (1) 472 (111)
National team
1988-1998	England	57 (10)
Teams managed
2005	Kettering Town
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Paul John Gascoigne (born 27 May, 1967 in Gateshead, England), often referred to by his nickname Gazza, is a former English football player.

His career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough and Everton, and he also played 57 times for England. Due to his talent, Gascoigne became one of the most prominent sports celebrities in the United Kingdom in the 1990s: in particular, his fame rose to a peak when he burst into tears following a yellow card in the semi-final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which would have disqualified him from playing in the final had his team won. Since then the media have avidly followed his sometimes troubled life.

1 Biography
2 After playing and management
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Gascoigne grew up in the Dunston area of Gateshead, a particularly deprived area of Tyneside, and played for the local Redheugh Boys Club. He was a bright pupil at school, especially in Mathematics, but his key interest was football and it is rumored that when he was 12 years old, he wrote his signature time and time again in an examination - explaining to his teacher that he was 'practicing his signature for when he grew up to be a famous footballer'. At the age of 11, Paul suffered a tragedy when he watched his friend's brother Stephen Spraggon knocked down and killed by a car. A year later he suffered further trauma when his father suffered a brain haemorrhage and was in hospital for eight months.

After three unsuccessful trials at Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough and Southampton, he signed for Newcastle United in 1983 as an apprentice and made his first team debut in 1985. In total, he made 107 appearances and scored 25 goals for Newcastle before being bought by Tottenham in 1988 for £2.2 million, a British transfer record at that time. Later that year he made his first England appearance when he came on as a substitute in a game against Denmark. Though clearly talented, his partying lifestyle and sophomoric antics made many observers question whether he would reach his full potential. One contemporary English manager remarked that "he would either be one of the greats, or finish up at forty, bitter about wasting such talent."^{[citation needed]}

By 1990, Gazza had emerged as an exceptional young midfield player with the rare ability to beat opponents and score superb individual goals. He had a stocky, powerful build that allowed him to hold off defenders and weather challenges. He combined his attacking flair with hustle and tenacious (sometimes reckless) tackling. His range of passing and reading of the game was in evidence during Italia '90, when he found Gary Lineker with a perfectly-weighted through-ball that lead to a crucial goal against Cameroon in the quarter-finals. He was named to the tournament All-Star team for his performances.

In 1990 he was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year after an emotional performance at Italia '90, where he cried in the semi-final after receiving a booking which would have seen him suspended for the final had England won.

After Italia 90, with 'Gazzamania' at its height, he reached number 2 in the UK top 40 with "Fog On The Tyne", a collaborative cover with Lindisfarne.

In the 1991 FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest he badly injured himself as he made a reckless tackle on Forest's Gary Charles. Gascoigne was not booked for this, or an earlier horror tackle on Garry Parker, and even took his place in the wall for the subsequent free kick which was taken, and scored, by England teammate Stuart Pearce. It was while the Forest players were celebrating that Gascoigne collapsed. It was later revealed that he had torn his cruciate ligaments and the injury prevented him from playing for more than a year.

After he recovered from injury, he moved to Serie A side Lazio for a fee of £5.5 million. In the first year Gazza's play was inconsistent but he scored his first goal in the 89th minute during the Rome derby against AS Roma. Lazio fans still love Gazza for this, and for his character.

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 penultimate game of the 1995/96 season against Aberdeen, he was awarded the title of Scottish Player of the Season. During Gascoigne's time with Rangers he secured three Scottish Premier League Winners medals. On two occasions he provoked Celtic supporters by pretending to play the flute, which is a symbol of Orange Men and Protestants in Scotland and Northern Ireland.[[1]]

During Euro 96, Gascoigne, enjoyed arguably his best international form since Italia '90, in a memorable team of talents that included young stars like Gary Neville, Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman, as well as veterans David Seaman and Stuart Pearce. Gascoigne scored the goal of the tournament against Scotland, and came close to scoring against Germany in the team's ill-fated and emotionally charged semi-final. (Fans have argued ever since whether, if Gascoigne had been fitter and lighter, he would have converted Alan Shearer's cross.) In the event, England lost to Germany on a penalty shoot-out, and once again, Gascoigne shed tears. He was named to the tournament All-Star squad along with Shearer and McManaman.

Problems with form, injury and discipline – probably down to his well-documented problems with alcohol, drugs and bulimia^{[citation needed]} – saw Gascoigne omitted from the France 98 squad by coach Glenn Hoddle. Gascoigne was never to play for his country again, an event the press dubbed 'Gazzagate'. Phil Neville was one of the other players omitted at the last minute by Hoddle and that left him in tears. Neville revealed in an interview that Gascoigne took him under his wing and consoled him.

He 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 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 returned to England to have an operation, when the SARS virus erupted in China. Gascoigne never returned after playing just four games. In 2002 Gascoigne was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

[edit] After playing and management

On 30 July, 2004, he signed a deal to become player-coach for Football League Two club Boston United. After being at the club for 11 games he left on 5 October, 2004, to begin a football coaching course. He made five appearances for the club but scored no goals. In October 2004, he announced that he wanted to change his name, and later told a television audience that he wanted to be called "G8". He said he wanted to do this because "it sounds a bit like great, well it does with my Geordie accent". Gascoigne is estranged from his wife Sheryl, who claimed to have suffered domestic abuse from Gascoigne; they have a son, Regan.

In 2005, he made an emotional TV appearance on a BBC One programme about ex-footballers. Speaking to Scottish ex-footballer Alan Hansen, he talked about his problems and how he had had to cope with not being the player he used to be. He also mentioned he was determined to get back into the game by obtaining the proper coaching badges needed to manage a team.

Gascoigne was appointed manager of the recently founded Portuguese team Algarve United in June 2005, but failed to settle at the club, and left to become manager of the Conference North team Kettering Town on 27 October, 2005. His tenure at Kettering lasted just thirty-nine days, and he was dismissed by the club's board on 5 December, 2005, along with assistant manager Paul Davis. Later the same day, Gascoigne was arrested over an alleged assault of a journalist outside Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool, but the journalist withdrew his complaint three days later.[2].

Paul's step-daughter Bianca Gascoigne is the latest celebrity to be taking part in the 2nd series of Love Island (previously known as Celebrity Love Island).

On 8 November 2006, Gascoigne was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm to another man in a London nightclub.[3]. He was later released on bail.

Preceded by: Tony Adams	PFA Young Player of the Year 1988	Succeeded by: Paul Merson
Preceded by: Nick Faldo	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1990	Succeeded by: Liz McColgan
Preceded by: Brian Laudrup	Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1996	Succeeded by: Brian Laudrup
Preceded by: Brian Laudrup	Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year 1996	Succeeded by: Paolo Di Canio

[edit] Trivia

Gascoigne once booked a referee. When Dougie Smith, who was officiating the Rangers v. Hibs match on December 30, 1995, dropped his yellow card, Gascoigne picked it up, showed it to the referee mockingly, and then gave it back to the official. Smith, unamused, booked Gascoigne.[4]

[edit] References

Paul Gascoigne with Hunter Davies. Gazza - My Story. ISBN 0-7472-6818-5.

↑ - Times Online article on Gascoigne and Algarve United, Oct 15 2005

[edit] External links

English Football Hall of Fame Profile
Paul Gascoigne: Little Boy Lost (Observer article, February 2, 2003)

Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg	England squad - 1990 World Cup	Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg
1 Shilton \| 2 Stevens \| 3 Pearce \| 4 Webb \| 5 Walker \| 6 Butcher \| 7 Bryan Robson \| 8 Waddle \| 9 Beardsley \| 10 Lineker \| 11 Barnes \| 12 Parker \| 13 Woods \| 14 Wright \| 15 Dorigo \| 16 McMahon \| 17 Platt \| 18 Hodge \| 19 Gascoigne \| 20 Steven \| 21 Bull \| 22 Beasant \| Coach: Bobby Robson