Peter Beardsley offers Paul Gascoigne football lifeline at Newcastle United

[Tooj 17]

Paul Gascoigne is back at Newcastle United and wreaking havoc with the club's kids again.

 

The former England midfielder has been offered a lifeline and a coaching role with the club Academy by his former international and club team-mate, and fellow Geordie Peter Beardsley.

 

Gascoigne, who was a focal part of the Newcastle/Gateshead 2018 World Cup host bid at Wembley this week, hopes to have put a string of personal difficulties behind him as he puts his feet back on the coaching ladder at his first club.

 

The 42-year-old has been out of the game since he was sacked as Kettering boss four years ago and his life has been hit by a series of drink-related and mental health issues.

 

Although he needs hip surgery, finally, football has taken him back under its wing and his former Newcastle team-mate Beardsley is keeping him on the right path.

 

Gascoigne said: 'I am really well, fit and healthy and training really hard. I am training with the kids, Pete picks me up and we go into training which is good and it is nice to get involved and be training again.

 

"I am just enjoying playing the football and every day just keeping myself busy. Pete has been fantastic with me, making sure that I am ok and that I have got bread and milk in the fridge and stuff like that, which has been great.

 

'And it has been good to be involved with the kids. I am enjoying myself. Hopefully it will progress with me doing some of my coaching badges again.'

 

And Beardsley added: `He gave me the credit but he deserves the credit. The kids love him being at the academy and it is great for him to be joining in every day.

 

'We go to play in the Youth Cup at Doncaster next week and he will be with us there. It is fantastic to have him around the place.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...l#ixzz0Y4jpoaSx

 

"I need a couple of operations but that is no problem. I just look forward to going into training every day. I had a titanium hip put in and it has moved out of place. I need that replaced again. Apart from that I have had 39 knee operations and I'm looking forward to my next 42."

 

Gascoigne, the hero of England's march to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup, returned to prominence this week when he helped promote Newcastle's bid to be a host city at the 2018 finals at Wembley.

 

"You can always tell by the crowds at St James' Park where it is always a full house that it would be fantastic to have World Cup games there," Gascoigne added.

 

"It would be a big thing for the city which is getting bigger and bigger with regards to all the developments that are going on. These are exciting times and hopefully our bid will go very well.

 

"It is one of the top-three stadiums in the country. Where better to play your football;. It is still getting full houses even now."

 

Beardsley, who played alongside Gascoigne at Italia 90, added: "Paul is in good nick. He gave me the credit but he deserves the credit. The kids love him being at the academy.

 

"The good thing for him is that the kids remember him but they don't remember me. His goal against Scotland at Euro 96 is still fresh in the memory which is brilliant. It is great for him to be joining in every day. We go the play in the Youth Cup at Doncaster next week and he will be with us there. It is fantastic to have him around the place."

 

Beardsley is also convinced that his hometown would be ideal hosts for World Cup games.

 

"The North-East is a special place for sport," the former Liverpool and Everton player added.

 

"You look at the Great North Run every year and it shows that the infrastructure is there. Everyone that comes to St James' Park loves their day whether they are a Peterborough fan this season or hopefully an Arsenal fan next season. That is what our place gives football and everyone likes the North-east because of football.

 

We hosted Euro 96 games and the best thing about the whole bid is that everything is already in place. If the worst came to the worst and South Africa could not host the world cup this summer we could almost take it over now and that is the big advantage we already have.

 

"Our stadiums across the country are magnificent and without a doubt for me St James is one of the top stadiums in the country."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...d-recovery.html

 

Apologies if already posted.

[Tooj 17]

http://blog.lfe.org.uk/article/training-with-gazza

 

From Patrick Nzuzi's blog

 

It’s safe to say this has been the best Monday training session ever! There were only a few of us actually out training because the Reserves had included a number of youngsters in their ranks and while I’d like to have been involved I wouldn’t have missed training today for the world.

 

Training was taken by Peter Beardsley who introduced us all to Gazza who just dropped in to join in training with us.

 

We had a game of catch head catch which was really fun and we then went into some small sided games. Here am I almost fresh out of school and I’m training with two legends of the game who have both played more England games than I have youth games as things stand! Unbelievable! Gazza was brilliant, he had us all in hysterics, joking and laughing around but as soon as the training got going he still showed that us that you have to concentrate and apply yourself.

 

The things that they could both still do on the ball just simply takes your breath away and your left thinking about how good they actually were as players if this is them in retirement! I consider myself privileged and lucky to have been on the same training pitch to learn from two of the greatest Newcastle and England legends.

 

Tuesday couldn’t really live up to Monday’s billing for obvious reasons and we had a couple of sessions that related to attacking and defending before taking on an afternoon 11 v 11 session which proved a good work out.

 

On Thursday, we trained with a few of the reserve players. After decent warm up we went into some possession.

 

It was really good session everyone, everyone was sharp and closing down the ball quickly which it is essential to do in such games and then the session was progressed to bring in some small sided goals. Closing down and working hard for each other is key when you’re playing possession if one of your team doesn’t do the job he is supposed to you end up chasing the ball for a long, long time and subsequently as soon as you do win it back you find that you give it away again cheaply because you’re tired. So when you watch games on TV and you seem teams like Man Utd and Barcelona retaining possession for long periods spare a thought for the players opposing them because it’s a process that gradually wears people down.

 

On Friday we finished our college work just after 11am and then headed out on to the training pitch where we worked on shape and defending in preparation for our fixture with Leeds Utd.

 

This week I also had my first interview with Kenny. All the first years get one at some point in the season. It was scary as I didn’t know what he was going to say. However it went down ok, and I was told I had to work on improving my heading.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

He's off the wagon again.

 

Arrested wandering round Jesmond drunk this morning.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

England legend Paul Gascoigne arrested for the second time in two days

 

Troubled former England football star Paul Gascoigne has been arrested for the second time in two days.

 

The ex-Newcastle United and Tottenham midfielder was taken into custody along with another man by police called to the Blackwell Grange Hotel in Darlington on Monday night.

 

The 42-year-old - who has faced a long battle with alcoholism and depression - was later released without charge after being questioned on suspicion of a public order offence.

 

The men had been arrested the previous night on suspicion of being drunk in charge of a vehicle in North Yorkshire.

 

They were released on bail on Monday evening over the incident at a takeaway in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, but were soon back in custody after staff at the hotel called the police.

 

Gascoigne was freed without further action, but the second man, aged 40, was given a fixed penalty notice.

 

A Durham Police spokesman said: 'At 8.10pm we received a call from the Blackwell Grange Hotel where staff reported an ongoing incident involving Paul Gascoigne and his friend, Michael Harvey.

 

'Both were arrested and taken to Darlington police station. Both were subsequently released. No further action was taken against Mr Gascoigne and the other man accepted a fixed penalty notice for a public order offence.'

 

Gazza, who was sectioned three times under the Mental Health Act in 2008, has described how, when he hit rock bottom, he was taking cocaine and drinking a litre of gin a day, which left him delusional and afraid to leave his room.

 

The former England hero, who played at Newcastle, Spurs, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough and in China, went public about his continuing battle with addiction in March last year.

 

He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire he had been clean of drink and drugs for four months, working the 12 Steps Programme and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

But in December last year, he was handed a fixed penalty notice for being drunk and disorderly after being arrested in Newcastle.

How can anyone help the poor fucker when he can't help himself?

Edited February 9, 2010 by Dr Kenneth Noisewater

[Kitman 2207]

I don't think this end well, sadly

[Andrew 4947]

he needs a nanny, someone who is always with him or its really going to end badly

[Kitman 2207]

he needs a nanny, someone who is always with him or its really going to end badly

 

He's firmly in the grip of alcoholism, possibly drug and gambling addicted too going on past reports, and he's had serious mental illness. If he won't seek/accept help then there's not a lot can be done for him

[Sima 0]

Beyond help (which I'm not sure he even wanted in the first place).