Gascoigne Page #8

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with his affection for the game

and his love of playing,

I think it had a real negative effect on him.

So I missed about

two years, really, in playing out there,

so I never got the chance to really,

before I moved on to Rangers,

to really show the fans

what I really could do, you know?

There's only one Paul Gascoigne.

One Paul Gascoigne.

There's only one Paul Gascoigne.

That time at Rangers was phenomenal.

Really, really unbelievable.

Because I had the press saying,

"He won't do it up here.

"He won't achieve anything up here.

He wouldn't this and that."

Unfortunately for the press,

we won the league, won the cup,

won the other cup.

So I didn't do too bad that year.

- The Celtic's crap...

- Rangers are the best.

Rangers are the crappest.

It's more hatred up there, its horrific.

You got the Protestants against the Catholics.

I've never witnessed anything like that.

The first match we had was, like,

a friendly against Steaua Bucharest

and I just remember the fans singing,

doing The Sash,

and one of the players said to us,

"This is The Sash,

this what it sort of means."

I didn't really take any notice

and I just remember scoring

and I just thought it was a thing to the...

The fans.

And then the next day

when I pick up the paper,

and the front page, "Gazza does The Sash,"

and then when I read what it was all about,

it was like, "My God."

The Protestants are allowed

to walk down this Catholic road

and it's been going on for years

and there always seems to be

people killed every year doing it.

And there's always riots

and bombs and everything

and I never really took any notice of anything.

And then I was just opening the mail

and I looked at it and it went,

"Hi, my name's such and such,

I'm from the IRA

"and I'm gonna kill you." Yeah.

It had his name, his address,

his two mobile numbers.

And I went, "Well, this guy is serious."

So I showed Walter Smith and he went,

"Oof, better get the police."

So two police come, undercover,

and they went, "Give us a look at that.

We'll go and see him for you.

And they ew over.

So I'm waiting for their return.

I'm shitting a brick I'm going,

F***ing hell, what am I gonna do?"

I waited three days

and then they come to my house.

And they went, "Right, we've seen the guy.

He is serious. He is gonna kill you."

F***ing hell.

So I went, "What are you gonna do about it?"

He went, Well, we can't do anything

until he actually flies over

"and we're not gonna sit and wait

at the airport, Paul,

"because it might take months.

So I'm like, "Oof."

And he went, "Here's a thing."

And it was like a little round thing,

about that big and I went, "Well, what's that?"

He says, Open."

Pulled it like that, and he went,

That's to look under your car for bombs."

So I'm like, "Sh*t, and then he went,

"Can you ring up your family

"and tell them all to board the house up."

F***ing beam the windows up and all,

in case they shoot through

the windows and all that.

For the first four or five games, I panicked.

You just wonder if someone's in the crowd.

You know, he can be anywhere.

He doesn't have to be on a football pitch.

He can be hanging outside your house.

It lasted for six months.

And then eventually

I got the letter from this guy

and he went, "Right,

"you haven't done it for a while.

If you honestly do that again, I will kill you."

And then it was okay.

Now I could relax.

England are assured

of a really tough draw already.

Now, would this be England in with Scotland?

It is. England against Scotland.

Scotland is not an international team.

Scotland. It's a mix of sheep shaggers.

Scotland have got a better

international record.

We've qualified for five World Cups.

All right? That's what we've done.

And what have you done?

You've only played five...

You've only played five games.

No! Not my pants.

The flak I took off of players three months

prior to the tournament was horrendous.

"We're gonna whop you one.

Stick it right up you."

I was getting that every single day.

And I'm saying, "We'll see."

Then I says, "You've gotta remember

I know how seven of youse play."

We had a little bit of a break,

the season finished with a break

before the championships.

We went to Hong Kong.

It was just like... I think it was like bonding.

We did a little bit of training.

It was a bit relaxing for a few days.

There was my birthday as well,

so it was like, okay.

And then Terry Venables says,

"Look, you go out for the night.

"Make sure you're back before 12:00."

And then we went out.

We went to this club.

It was like a theme bar thing.

And just looked over to see

what everyone was doing.

And it was like a dentist chair thing.

And you sat on it and then the guy

come behind you, a couple of guys,

and he pressed the pedal and it went back.

And obviously, if you open your mouth,

they pour cocktails down it.

I give it a go. I didn't get any fillings done.

But I got a few cocktails down my neck

and then Sol went,

and Teddy Sheringham went,

Steve McManaman, everyone.

There were about six who had a go, you know.

The press got a hold of it. Someone had took

a photo on their mobile phone,

and then obviously sold the photo.

That was unbelievable what the press wrote,

for one night out.

And I get hammered for it.

The headlines was like,

"Kick him out of the tournament,"

you know, "He's not right. Not ready."

Well, I just had a full season winning

medals and trophies at Glasgow Rangers.

All I had to do was just wait

till I start playing football again.

Back on the football pitch. Where I felt safe.

Was in the Euro. At Wembley.

England against Scotland.

And I took my wife to the game.

Which, normally, we don't do often.

My wife was pregnant of our first child

and she was pregnant

of something like six months.

And, um, and...

She was so upset with me because...

Because I made her walk so much

to get into Wembley.

But I think I couldn't have a...

A better game of football.

And Paul, in that match, was magnificent,

and he scored one of the goals

that belongs to...

To his fantastic history.

Forward to Paul Gascoigne,

who made a brilliant run.

And that's superb!

What a goal!

I still think to this day it's the most

iconic England goal of all time.

I think his vision, his creativity,

the composure, the skill.

Finishing it the way he did and then

the celebration as well,

I think it's all rolled into a fantastic goal.

Before the game, I said

to the guys, I went, "Listen, whoever scores,

"get on your back and pretend

you're doing the dentist chair.

"Someone get the Lucozade bottles

and squeeze it in you."

You know, just to wind up the press,

have a go back at them and that.

It was ironic that I scored it.

So it was perfect.

I think it was a case of Paul

just proving them wrong, which was a doddle.

It was just unfortunate

that it was Lucozade and not gin.

Because I would have played better then.

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