Gascoigne Page #2

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and that would set us off again.

Mum, she's doing it again."

All the time I was playing when I was 14,

I was just waiting for Newcastle, really.

Fortunate for me, it happened, you know.

But I had to put in the work as well.

Ii wasn't easy.

Them days, we had to get in early.

Put the kit out for the professionals.

If they wanted a cup of tea, make the tea.

Then we'd have to clean the balls.

At that time, the manager was Arthur Cox.

Tough cookie.

He used to put the team sheet

up on the Friday,

who was playing on the Saturday.

And I touched the sheet.

And I went, "Look, it's a certain..."

I think it was Neil McDonald.

Because he was a good player

and he was young, and that.

And I went, "Neil's playing,"

and I touched the sheet,

and he nearly took my ear off.

He smacked us right across the ear.

And he went, "Don't touch that f-ing sheet

until you're on it."

So that's what it meant to be

a professional footballer

and I thought, "Sh*t, I'm in trouble."

Yeah, and I was panicking.

So I thought, I'll make him

a cup of tea and that.

Polished the cup and made it perfect for him,

and then I took it in with my hands

around the rim.

Went to give it to him

and he took my head off.

You know.

Don't f-ing touch the top of a cup

where I've got to drink from' my son."

And he'd just put his feet up

and lie back in his chair.

So I had to go make him another one

and I made sure it was all done perfect,

and, you know, I made sure

I never touched that sheet again.

What are we doing? Are we standing out here

or are we going inside, or what?

- Going in, I think.

- Haven't been in, yet

I was just in awe of the man,

with England in 1966.

And he comes to the club

and I wasn't really in the youth team.

I was sub in that.

I wasn't really getting that much of a game.

You know, after I finished training,

go home and had a light bottle of pop,

fish and chips, and a bag of Minstrels.

And he pulled us aside and he went,

"Can I have a word with you?

I was, like, "Oof."

I was shaking a bit and I went, "Yeah."

And he went, "Yeah, you're a good player."

I went, "Yeah, I am."

He says, "How long have you

got left on your contract?

I went...

I said, "Yeah, I've got a couple of years."

And he went,

No, you've two weeks, you fat bastard.

You better start losing weight."

You know, I would like to think

it was puppy fat at 17.

Sixteen and a half to be fair...

Yeah, I was sixteen and half and then,

I stopped the Minstrels,

I stopped with the Coke, bottles of Coke.

Yeah, and I got weighed every day.

It worked, you know.

I'd been hardly playing for the youth team.

Within a month

I was captain of the youth team.

I was captain of the reserves.

And took them onto...

We got to the Youth Cup final.

Jack Charlton, he went,

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

Sort of thing, this was a Friday night,

after the game.

And I went, "I'm just gonna go back.

Just chill out, you know."

And he went, "I would like you to play

for the first team tomorrow."

And that was my start of my career.

Once I started playing for Newcastle,

it was...

The feeling was,

the buzz was incredible, you know.

Playing for your hometown, and that.

And then eventually, you know,

one minute you were looking at

the Gallowgate and seeing

the fans roar and that,

and then eventually scoring

in front of them, you know.

The feeling was amazing. It was fantastic.

Like, "Wow," just thinking,

"I've scored, I've scored.

"I'll tell me Dad. I'll watch it

on Match of the Day, "you know.

Then you hear the fans singing your name,

you know.

It's unbelievable.

Well, it's goals like that which have made

Paul Gascoigne, or Gazza,

as they all know him, a real hero

to the people who stand

on these terraces at St James' Park.

He looks like the kind of footballer

who plays for the local Sunday pub team

until you see him play, that is.

The reason the supporters really

love Gazza is he's one of them,

T-shirt, anorak and jeans

and a diet of Mars bars and brown ale.

You won't find it in the coaching manuals,

but when you can score goals

like he scores, who cares?

The first time I heard the name

Paul Gascoigne,

was when he was in

his early days at Newcastle.

People in the game started talking

about this young man

that had something a little bit special.

He was a precocious young talent.

A kid that would do things,

that would take people on,

that would beat people,

and had an unbelievable natural talent.

I think it's about 35 years since

I seen a kid as good as what this lad is.

And I just cannot believe the skills

of him, he's got everything.

Everything. Sticks out a mile.

And he'll tell you so as well, you know.

- He's a class... Confident.

- He's a confident lad.

There's no holding him,

he's the best in the world.

Honestly. The best in the world.

The manager would say, "Right, then,

"you're lining up against John Fashanu,

big, strong in the air

"and tough, and all that.

"Peter Beardsley, you're up against,

you know, this...

"Andy Thorn, tough guy,

good in the air, boom-boom."

And he just went, "Gazza, good luck."

That was all he said.

I was, "What do you mean, 'Good luck?

He went, "You're playing against a guy,

that... He's quite hard. Vinnie Jones."

Coming out of the tunnel,

he just f***ing looked at us.

He strains his neck like that,

and he went, Me and you, fat boy."

I went, Sh*t,"

you know, and we're walking through

the tunnel and I just looked at him again

and he went, "What are you f***ing

looking at? Just me and you, fat boy!"

He says, "I cannot play football

and neither are you today."

They could say that

Vinnie Jones is marking Gascoigne.

And he followed us,

everywhere. This guy was, just, like, solid.

It wasn't like he... He was just solid.

And he wouldn't leave us.

An amazing dribble.

Goodness, me... Whoa!

As the game went on,

I just felt a bit more, like,

confident and that, and I went,

"I f***ing didn't bother with this guy."

And he started backing up on us

and so I, sort of like, gave him a push

and that's when he squeezed me,

squeezed me balls.

He really squeezed them so hard.

and I was like...

Honestly, I thought I'd lost

my family allowance.

We're going in the dressing room

and some girls sent us some roses

and I went,

That's nice, I'll give them to Vinnie."

So I went and I says, "Can you give them

to Vinnie Jones, please, from me?"

I went back to the dressing room

and then the guy came back, a young kid,

he went, "That's from Vinnie."

He was sending us back a toilet brush,

he said to go f*** off.

That was my first experience

with Vinnie, you know.

He's been a good friend since, like, you know.

I'd played for Newcastle

for a year and a half then.

And, you know, my name was getting round.

Glenn Roeder said, "Look at Tottenham,

"Terry Venables wants to sign you

at the end of the season."

And I just thought, well,

Tottenham is a big, massive club.

So is Newcastle,

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