Christmas Tree 4438 Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 (edited) Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Correspondent --- The Times Every time a tale of Paul Gascoigne’s disintegration hits the newspapers, the point is made that the game could, and should, have done more to help him. So the story of how Newcastle United brought Gazza into their academy this year deserves to be told, if only to make it clear that this unfolding tragedy is far more complex than could be halted simply by getting him to pull on his boots and keeping him busy. Residing in the North East, Gazza was invited back to his old club this year by Peter Beardsley. A team-mate of Gazza for club and country, Beardsley now runs the club’s youth system. This could have been an arrangement that worked well for everyone — a purpose for Gazza, perhaps the world’s most restless individual, a man for whom sitting still is agony, with the added fulfilment of seeing kids’ eyes light up every time he walked on to a training pitch. He has talked often enough of getting back into the game, and here was an opportunity to do so among friends, while close to his roots. The signs were promising as Gascoigne took up the invitation to turn up ad hoc. “It was the first good news we’d heard about him in years,” one former England team-mate said. There was talk that these might become more formal, regular visits. What an uplifting story that would have been to write, and to read, with Gascoigne finding some stability in his life for the first time in years. But then I probed further. This unexpected burst of sunshine turned out to be all too fleeting. It transpires that Gascoigne has not been back to take up Beardsley’s offer since the end of last season. The door remains open but no one at Newcastle knows if, or when, Gazza might walk back in. What is certain is that they have given up expecting him. “He’s in a bad place,” is as much as a friend would say. How bad, only Gascoigne himself can know but his mother’s battle with cancer is said to be a great strain. Sir Bobby Robson’s death caused more deep upset. Gascoigne attended the memorial service at Durham Cathedral last month, but was the first to disappear from the reception afterwards. He would have been the centre of attention and, these days, that is not a role he seeks. Gascoigne was due to be the main speaker at a charity night at the Hedworth Hall, South Shields, next month but has already cancelled. The organisers were told that he is in “no fit shape” to go through with it. Chris Evans, his old drinking partner, spoke to Gazza last month. “He had just bought a parrot and it was flying around the room and he was trying to catch it,” Evans revealed to a newspaper in the North East before adding: “Let’s hope there was a parrot there.” No doubt it was said good-naturedly but, at heart, it was a joke about a man’s mental illness. An illness that has caused him to be sectioned, that has made him suicidal, that almost certainly has its roots in childhood and not the fame, fortune and indulgence of later years. At the weekend, we had to endure the latest revelations about Gascoigne from Sheryl, his ex-wife, who is publishing a book Stronger: My Life Surviving Gazza. In it, she claims that he used to demand sex ten times a day and would not take no for an answer, and alleges that he was relentlessly bullying. Gascoigne is said to be consulting lawyers, although it is debatable whether he can afford them given that he is close to skint. With Sheryl promoting the book — life as Mrs G has been terribly distressing, but not without compensations — Gascoigne’s personality defects will be pored over minutely. Already it is being asked how this might affect his fragile state, not that anyone can know — just as it is far too simplistic to think that football could have stopped it coming to this. In his interview, Evans talked about Gazza being “mismanaged” and speculated that he “would have been a different person” under the stern Sir Alex Ferguson. But that assumes Gazza was capable of responding to discipline. Paul McGrath was not, and was sold by United — trying to commit suicide within weeks of leaving Old Trafford for Aston Villa. A troubled Ferguson once asked Tony Adams if he could have done any more to help McGrath. “No,” was the answer. Ferguson was a football manager, not a counsellor for those with chronically low self-esteem. Gascoigne has not always surrounded himself with people who could help him but he has also come across many, such as Beardsley, who have done all that they could. Now some well-intentioned friends are wondering whether to put on a fundraising game to help Gascoigne out of his financial pickle. No doubt they would get a crowd because there is a lot of goodwill out there even after his ex-wife’s revelations. However much of a brute it is claimed he has been, many still choose to see the brilliant, vulnerable hero of Italia ’90. There are probably enough souls who would turn up and not ask questions about whether their £20 was going straight on a bottle of whisky. It might resolve one short-term headache for Gascoigne but it is not the sort of help that he needs most urgently. But then as Beardsley would sadly acknowledge, no one in football can truly know what is. Edited October 12, 2009 by Christmas Tree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15115 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gazza is dying. It's just a question of how long it takes and how horrible it is to watch while it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2204 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gazza is dying. It's just a question of how long it takes and how horrible it is to watch while it happens. It's very sad. It seems like he's beyond help these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mighty Hog 488 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Caught 5 Live yesterday morning and Sheryl was on there hawking something saying she was hoping to empower women, as far as I could tell she was just talking about Gazza for a large chunk of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 41318 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Caught 5 Live yesterday morning and Sheryl was on there hawking something saying she was hoping to empower women, as far as I could tell she was just talking about Gazza for a large chunk of it. No surprise there. When they got married she walked down the aisle to The Flying Lizards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gazza is dying. It's just a question of how long it takes and how horrible it is to watch while it happens. That's about the size of it like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jusoda Kid 1 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) Nice to see Sheryl getting her claws into what's left of him. Edited October 13, 2009 by Wacky Jnr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaser 1180 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gazza has been offered a lot of help over the years and he has chosen not to take it on board. While it is very sad to see it happen, he has to want to get well again, and I think coupled with his illness he chooses not to. People say that he's another George Best but I think he's worse than that, and I'll be surprised if he lasts as long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 41318 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gazza has been offered a lot of help over the years and he has chosen not to take it on board. While it is very sad to see it happen, he has to want to get well again, and I think coupled with his illness he chooses not to. People say that he's another George Best but I think he's worse than that, and I'll be surprised if he lasts as long. Alcoholism and mental illness don't really lend themselves to choice though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 6822 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 My lasses kid brother played for the academy last year and I saw Gazza there a few times. Seemed well at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@yourservice 67 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Nice to see Sheryl getting her claws into what's left of him. Makes a change from Gazza getting his claws into her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Nice to see Sheryl getting her claws into what's left of him. Makes a change from Gazza getting his claws into her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I see the poisonous bitch has a book out for Xmas. 'Surviving My Life With Gazza' or some such garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 oh dear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 29491 Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Is this the one where she claims he forced her into having sex? Without claiming rape of course (that would be libellous). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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