Gascoigne Page #5

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"You bugger."

The teams,

just about to appear

and the atmosphere here in Turin

is absolutely wonderful.

Huge support for both sides.

Huge anticipation.

The only thing you hear is just this

unbelievable noise, you know.

And the longer you're in the tunnel,

the worse it gets.

Try not listening. Put a deaf ear to it,

you know, because all you think is, like,

"Win this, and you're in the final

of the World Cup."

Which England haven't done since 1966,

you know.

I just seen the way the players had

passion in them there, you know?

They just stood up. Three Lions.

We were singing the national anthem,

and it was incredible.

The adrenaline was unbelievable.

I think that was one of my best games

for England.

Nearly scored in the first five minutes.

Gascoigne!

And he's close.

A bright start for England.

We were so... I didn't realise that we were

actually much the better side on that day.

Stuart Pearce.

It's a challenge,

and that's a free kick to West Germany.

England wall.

And this is Brehme.

And it was deected,

and over Peter Shilton.

Unlucky.

Parker.

Lineker forward, but somewhat outnumbered.

But he's stolen it!

And it's one-one,

and England's players and fans alike go wild.

Wonderful comeback.

That smile says it all.

What about that hug?

And then, obviously, the famous...

The second yellow card.

Gascoigne,

shrugging off a challenge.

And then losing it a bit and

stretching for it and that could be trouble!

And, honestly, if I look at it,

back at it, I honestly don't think

I even touched the guy.

He's took the ball and my foot, that's actually

supposed to have kicked him,

was behind his heel.

You know, I didn't seem to have made

any contact whatsoever.

And he's rolling all over

as if I'd, like, done him in badly.

The scream might have pissed me off

more than anything.

'Cause he screamed like a baby

and he's like...

So I tried to put my fingers in his mouth

and try and shut him up, and...

But obviously he's carried on squealing.

When I get kicked, I take it as a compliment.

That means they're worried

about us, you know.

I could never bring myself to rolling all over,

you know.

Especially where I'm from and that.

It's a yellow card

for Paul Gascoigne.

He's already had one in this tournament,

and his face tells the story.

He knows that if England get to the final,

he will not be a part of it.

All I kept thinking about with the card

was if I get to the final, I'm missing it

And I worked so hard to get to

where I was, you know,

semi-final of the World Cup and...

Then obviously the crying.

After a couple of minutes,

I just thought to myself,

give me all in the last 20 minutes

and get the lads to the final.

You know, if you have

a look at that last 20 minutes

I really worked my nuts off.

It'll be England's

first-ever penalty shoot-out,

and what a time for it to come.

A place in the World Cup final at stake.

At that stage, at the end of the game,

Gazza then goes,

"That's my World Cup over.

"That's, so, you know, that's it.

"Whatever happens now,

I'm not going to be playing again."

When Sir Bobby

come up on the pitch,

you know, he hugged us and he went,

"Look at you, you've done me proud,

you've done your country proud,

'you've done your family proud,

your club proud, your manager proud. "

And it was really nice of him to say that

you know, and come up to us.

But I just didn't feel right to take a penalty.

Between him and Bobby Robson,

they decided that

perhaps it was best that he wouldn't take one.

I wish he had.

The overriding feeling that you get

from scoring a penalty in a shootout

is one of relief.

You know, "Well, it ain't gonna be my fault."

Which is a terrible thing to say but, you know,

we're human beings and, you know,

the one thing you would never wanna do

is be the person that misses

the penalty that will be shown forever more.

You know, you don't shed tears on

a football pitch if you don't care

about playing for your country.

It was incredible, really.

If I'm sitting here now, saying to my children

or explaining about Paul Gascoigne,

I'd say he's probably

the most exciting English player

I've seen and certainly the best.

There was loads of tears

in the dressing room.

I've never seen anything like it, you know,

and we're all sitting there in tears

and waiting for Sir Bobby.

And he went, "Look here, guys,

you've done me so proud.

You know, well go out and we'll have,

we'll enjoy ourselves tonight."

Then he was welling up and everyone,

when the players, I suppose,

when they seen him welling up,

you know, everyone joined in with him.

I mean, it was...

I would never have that feeling again.

You know, I have had great

feelings in my career but that,

that certain moment where it was that close.

I mean, a penalty kick.

Twelve yards away from getting to the final.

We're on the plane and when it come

to land, Gary Lineker come up to us.

And he went, "Paul, be careful,"

And I didn't have a clue

what he was on about.

Be careful for what? You know.

I think it lifted him from being

a great footballer

to, almost, a national treasure,

a great personality.

It was the moment that a nation cried

with an English footballer.

We want Gazza!

We want Gazza. We want Gazza.

I don't think I'll ever

witness anything like that again.

You know, when you're getting

a crowd like that singing your name

and I've had it at Wembley, when

there's been 80,000, but 120,000..

I remember Peter Beardsley

coming up to us on the bus

and he went, "This is for you, you know?

This is for you." And it was like, wow.

It's one of them things where you

just couldn't take it in, you know?

One was just playing for England

in the World Cup.

Er, but actually taking it all in, it was hard.

And when I got home, my dad had organised

a party back at the working men's club,

and had a party in there.

Which was brilliant, being back

in the hometown, you know.

And I always remember...

There's a...

There's a bit the next day, after the party, I...

I went up to the...

Local park and it was empty.

And I just stood there myself

and just thought, "This is where I come from."

Stood there for an hour, you know.

it was a touching feeling to say,

"I come from this town

and I played in the World Cup."

There I was, years ago, just a young kid

running about with a tennis ball

and come back.

Twenty-two heroes out there,

and I was one of them.

The tears that owed

on that summer night in Italy

have swollen since then into a flood

of national adulation.

Paul Gascoigne is Gazza.

Gazza is at the centre of Gazzamania.

Fame and the trappings of fame,

on and off the football field, are his life now.

Do any of youse girls wanna do it

in News of the World?

You gotta come to bed with us.

It's one of them things

I don't think you could ever get used to,

even to this day.

Just everything was coming thick and fast

and even the money.

The holidays, and taking the family

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