Paul Gascoigne's controversial private life that shook up British football

Controversial, irreverent, provocative... Paul Gascoigne is, despite his wild life, one of the great legends of British football. As a footballer, he stood out for his great technique in the 1990s, his fighting spirit and his wit, all of which went hand in hand with a disorderly life surrounded by excesses.

Born in Gateshead, in the north of England, he had a difficult childhood. The second of four brothers in a working-class family, he had problems socialising as a child and young man. He also never did well in school, and was even involved in a couple of petty crimes.

Football helped him get away from the world of doom to which he seemed destined... but not entirely. Gascoigne started playing football in 1980, at the age of 13, in Newcastle's youth teams on the suggestion of legendary Bobby Robson. He managed to have a lot of success, but scandals in his private life were never too far behind.

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During his younger years, Gascoigne experienced difficult moments in his private life, including the violent death of a friend and the death of his father from a brain haemorrhage. These and many other problems led him to develop an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which has also followed him throughout his life.

Nevertheless, he excelled in Newcastle's youth ranks, even lifting the FA Cup title as captain. This earned him his first professional contract with the Magpies in 1985, just days after making his debut in a match against Queen Park Rangers on 13 April of that year.

The midfielder quickly became one of the team's best players, but his persistent misbehaviour threatened his continuity at the club. He would eventually play for Newcastle for three seasons until 1988, making 104 appearances and scoring 24 goals, according to Transfermarkt.

In the 1988-1989 season, he signed for Tottenham Hotspur, where he enjoyed his best years as a footballer and where he became one of the best English players of his era.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror in 2024, Gascoigne recalled the most embarrassing moment of his entire career. He needed a team-mate to translate for him, because the rest of the team could not understand him when he spoke with his 'Geordie' accent.

"No one could understand a word I was saying. They had to get Chris Waddle to translate for me at training. It was really embarrassing," he told the newspsaper.

Gascoigne also spent four seasons with Spurs, where he played 111 games and scored 33 goals, according to Transfermarkt. He was one of the team's driving forces, but his chaotic nightlife and ongoing off-field problems accumulated during those years.

This prompted Tottenham to sell him to Italian side Lazio in the 1992-1993 season, where his decline as a footballer really began. He was inconsistent and overweight, and never ceased to cause controversy due to his penchant for drinking.

After three years with the Roman club, he moved to Rangers, where he became an idol for the fans, and later returned to England, where he played for Middlesbrough, Everton and Burnley.

There are some famous episodes when Gascoigne went off the rails, such as when he brought an ostrich to a Tottenham training session, celebrated a goal as if they were pouring a drink on him and bought pints for a very young Wayne Rooney. He also crashed the Everton bus, and injured himself by hitting an opponent or giving it his all in a bar.

Gascoigne was also a great provocateur, which he demonstrated after scoring a goal against Celtic with Rangers by pretending to play the flute, mimicking the Orange Order marches.

In those years, in 1996, the world also witnessed one of Gascoigne's most reprehensible altercations, when he gave a terrible beating to his wife and mother of his son, Sheryl Failes. She ended up in the hospital with two broken teeth, broken fingers, cuts on her nose and a black and swollen eye, They filed for divorce in 1998.

"It was the biggest mistake of my life," he told the Daily Mirror years later.

In 2002, after a spell with Burnley, Gascoigne was training with DC United in Washington for a move to the MLS, but negotiations eventually broke down due to his poor fitness.

In 2003, he would eventually end up at Chinese side Gansu Tianma as a player-coach, making just four appearances and scoring two goals. After that, he returned to England once more for six weeks training with Wolverhampton and ending his professional playing career at Premiership side Boston United, where he made just five appearances.

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Even before going to China, Gascoigne went through his first detox treatment in England and as a member of Gansu Tianma he spent a few days in a specialised clinic. However, none of this worked, and his drinking problems sped up his farewell to the world of football.

From then on, it would only get worse. Without football, Gascoigne was constantly embroiled in scandals and his life slowly fell apart.

Summing up his life since then, Gascoigne told Channel 4's 'Scared of The Dark' reality show: "I've had near-death experiences, 36 operations. I've died a couple of times after fighting demons and been put in a coma for 18 days. People keep telling me I have more lives than a cat."

Since 2005 he was under treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as for other issues such as a bipolar disorder or bulimia, and has been in detox centres on several occasions.

In December of the same year, the former footballer was arrested for assaulting a photographer in Liverpool and, in 2006, he was involved in a fight with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher after a fierce argument that ended with the artist spraying the former footballer with a fire extinguisher.

In 2007, Gascoigne underwent emergency surgery for a burst stomach ulcer, which he came through with no problems. This coincided with his 40th birthday celebrations.

A year later, in 2008, due to an anxiety attack, the former England player tried to take his own life while staying at the Millennium Hotel in London.

According to The Sun, several witnesses saw him enter the luxury London hotel with a bottle in his hands, and it later emerged that he was intoxicated by drinks and illegal substances.

It was not his only attempt that year. Gascoigne experienced another dramatic moment with his friend Jimmy Gardner in another hotel, this time in the Algarve (Portugal), when he also tried to take his own life by drinking and consuming illegal substances. He was hospitalized and had his stomach pumped.

His agent, Terry Baker, asked for help, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "Gascoigne won't like what I'm going to say, but he needs immediate help."

In 2013, according to The Sun, Gascoigne drunkenly assaulted his ex-wife Sheryl, whom he was with at the time, at Stevenage train station and subsequently assaulted a security guard who tried to help her.

In 2015, he went on trial, this time as a victim, for being one of the UK personalities implicated in the News of the World's illegal eavesdropping.

However, one of the worst moments of his life came in July 2016, when images were published of Gascoigne walking down the street barefoot and with almost no clothes on, with only a faded dressing gown, obviously drunk and almost unrecognisable due to his thin and battered appearance.

On 20 August 2018, Gascoigne reportedly kissed a woman against her will on a train when he was intoxicated, according to The Guardian and the BBC. He was tried for the charges in 2019.

The victim reported that Gascoigne "tried to sit on my leg and then tried to kiss me. (...) I turned my face away, but he grabbed it and kissed me".

In recent years, Gascoigne has continued to try to fight his demons and his drinking problems, taking part in numerous football-related events, such as galas or legends' matches. All the while justifying himself to the world: "I haven't harmed anyone else. If I've done any harm it's only to myself."

"Keeping busy is the key. I never think that I have beaten my addiction. You have a bad day and you just have to get through it. Try and enjoy the good days when you can," he told the Daily Mirror in an interview in 2024.

Visibly changed from his glory years as a footballer, with a very aged and haggard appearance, Gascoigne never ceased to cause controversy. It's something he has not managed to shake off, despite his many attempts throughout a life weighed down by his demons.

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