Gazza is the new God.

(Qf: David Platt, Des Walker, Danny fucking Dichio)

(Qf: Luther Blissett, Ian Rush)

Ian Rush - 'Italy was like a foreign country'

Though Jordan did OK, Wilkins not too bad, and Tony Dorigo had a fair old career out there.

Bari - end of all hopes (Qf: Gordon Cowans and Paul Elliot)

And Lee Sharpe was a big success at Sampdoria.

Are you sure you're thinking of the right Boston?

Gazza may once have been described as "daft as a brush" but he has excelled even himself with his latest idea.

Paul Gascoigne wants to change his name - and not just his nickname either.

Apparently "Gazza" had been deemed surplus to requirements before he then decided "Paul" had to go too.

All in the interests of making a clean break from the past, you see.

The player soon to be "formerly known as Gazza" told The Sunday Times: "Paul's not right for us because it's closely linked with Gazza.

"I need a new first name. I want to separate from the past. I'm a different person now. I'm not Paul Gascoigne and I'm not Gazza.

"If people call us Gazza I won't respond. I don't want to be rude, but Gazza's gone and that's the end of it."

He told the paper he intends to discuss the change with his family.

What price "Five Bellies" having some input?

g8 you are a fucking fool

Note how the Times leaves in "us" instead of replacing it with "me" - do they do this with all quotes or are they saying "Look at the way the thick regional twat speaks". I may be reading too much into it but it reminds me of all the "Mancunians say fook instead of fuck" crap that was used through the 90s and also the numerous "let's all laugh at Danny Sarf Landan Baker" articles.

*back on topic* Certainly an ill-judged name change. Given that he is currently training to be a coach and actively looking for a job in football management, does he really envisage any chairman saying to the press "I am pleased to announce that our new manager is...um... gate... er gee-ate?"

Gazza/Paul/Gate ruled out of Morton job btw, apparently he (or his agents) phoned the chairman *during a home match* to ask about the job, got asked to send in a CV, forgot(!), then phoned again during a home game to ask if it was too late to apply. When the CV finally arrived it said "Coaching qualifications: None" or words to that effect on it.

-- bosko (bos...), June 14th, 2004.

http://www.the-scum.freeserve.co.uk/gazza_n4.jpg

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Former England midfield player Paul Gascoigne is being held under the Mental Health Act, a police source said on Thursday.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United player, widely known as Gazza, was arrested at the Hilton hotel in Gateshead, on Wednesday evening.
Nobody was injured and there was no violence and no damage to the hotel.
"A 40-year-old man has been detained," a spokesman for Northumbria Police said.
"We had received a report of concern for a 40-year-old man staying at the hotel. The man was detained under the Mental Health Act."

feel for him. hope he gets some decent help.

http://www.football365.com/news/story_130845.shtml

g8 you are a fucking fool

-- weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:54 AM (Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:54 AM) Bookmark Link

Amazing that that link posted in 2004 points to the new Gazza story.

According to Wikipedia, Gazza only managed 389 club games in a 19-year career. That's kind of insane.

20 games a season for a man who pretty much spent 1991-1995 crippled isn't that bad.

True, it's still the equivalent of playing maybe every game a season for ten years? That's a lot of time out injured.

Amazing what a few random clicks from Gazza's wiki page can leave you looking at...

http://s64.emuunlim.com/gameinfos/anderslimparsproffsfotboll/anderslimparsproffsfotboll1.gif

Haha although Jonathan Woodgate is only halfway there in a 10-year career.

A Channel 4 documentary The Real Paul Gascoigne in 2002 speculated that he might have Tourette's syndrome but Gascoigne has never confirmed this.

Is there really anyone Gascoigne is comparable to on a sporting level? Tyson? Ronnie O'Sullivan? Even those two had massive spells on top of their sport.

Comparable in what way?

Alex Higgins?

xpost

I'm assuming Dom means fucked-up talent squanderers.

Though TBH Higgins won his share of titles too, though not as many as he should.

I'm assuming Dom means fucked-up talent squanderers.

-- onimo, Thursday, 21 February 2008 14:10 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah this, but not just fucked up in a, I dunno, Toto Schillachi "doing a bunch of E and hanging out with criminals" way, I mean proper "this guy is probably a danger to himself" way.

Higgins is a good example, I think.

I mean, the alternative is that Gascoigne was never that good a player.

I'm suprised at you onimo!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uIoCmu4JL._SS500_.jpg

First person to say "Robin Friday" gets a free bus ticket back to the 90s

Benny Lynch - world champion whose career was over by the time he was 25, drank himself to death by the time he was 33.

xpost aye Connelly's another great talent with a few demons.

Pantani might be a good reference point as well.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06_01/John090607_468x605.jpg

Someone remind me, snooker player, pretty much dominated the pre-professional era, White and Reardon both say he was easily the best player ever, big drinking problems, clashes with authority so he was basically shut out of the Matchplay era, ended up hustling for fivers in pubs in South London. Remind me?

Not Joe Davis?

Surely not!

I nearly said "RFriday" about 21 mins ago!

I was thinking Jimmy White might have been quite a good example.

Jocky Wilson was probably too successful?

White was hardly a failure any more than Colin Montgomerie is. Gazza's failure isn't a question of not getting a World Cup winner's medal.

Jocky Wilson was probably too successful?

He wasn't that much of a train wreck?

Maradona+Garrincha = obv. too successful

'Hurricane' Higgins?

Garrincha lost his virginity to a goat, pretty much anything else he achieved in his life was going to be a step up from that.

Also, someone please confirm/deny the urban legend about the death of Jimmy White's brother.

Garrincha lost his virginity to a goat, pretty much anything else he achieved in his life was going to be a step up from that.

Including running over his own father

Best sporting running over: Garrincha's father vs Gigi Meroni

posted Nov 28, 2007

No his Dad really did die yesterday. Some years back his brother Tommy was allegedly borrowed from the funeral parlour, sat up in a chair, poured a pint of guinness and dealt a hand of cards. Way to go...

From the BBC news 'responses'

Jocky maybe wasn't quite as much of a train wreck, but he had some choice moments:

In 1982, Wilson was banned from competing in darts tournaments after he allegedly threw a punch at an official during a championship. This was taken as a reaction to Jocky being under intense pressure at the time of the Falklands War, as he was married to an Argentine woman named Malvina.

In 1989 he released a record "Jocky on the oche" but it failed to spark the public imagination and is reputed to have sold just 850 copies.

Jocky had been a heavy drinker and his lifestyle contributed to the onset of diabetes in 1995. For ten years during his darts career he had a house in Wallsend to cut down on travel expenses, but he left that to return to his hown town of Kirkcaldy. Within two years, he was declared bankrupt, and now survives on disability allowance, living in a one-bedroom flat back on the council estate where he grew up, becoming a recluse in the process.

In 1996, shortly after his retirement, he said, "I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. There's only one person to blame for the situation I'm in, and that's me."

He no longer gives interviews to the press and television. An Observer reporter tried to interview Jocky in January 2007 on the 25th anniversary of his first title win to be told by Jocky's wife Malvina, "He never has (given an interview) since stopping and never will. He thinks it's all in the past, it's over with."

Wilson was a constant sweet-eater and generally refused to brush his teeth - "my Gran told me the English poison the water" - he had lost his last tooth by the age of 28. Following his 1982 World title win, he paid £1,200 for dentures, but never took to them. They made him belch when drinking, he complained.

Plus allegedly taking a shit in Phil Taylor's shoes during a break in one tournament.

http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/eightieszone/TotpDexys.jpg

... talking of train wrecks!

There must be a tennis player or two who fit in here, surely? Possibly a female tennis prodigy rebelling against domineering parents or something?

Capriati?

Tennis players seemingly never go off the rails. Bitchy dressing room fist-waving "I'LL GET YOU BUTLER!!!" antics passes as shocking in tennis.

Bobby Fischer to thread

I don't know if Ken Buchanan might qualify here but his Wiki biography is far more vanilla than some of the stories I remember reading.

Someone remind me, snooker player, pretty much dominated the pre-professional era, White and Reardon both say he was easily the best player ever, big drinking problems, clashes with authority so he was basically shut out of the Matchplay era, ended up hustling for fivers in pubs in South London. Remind me?

Patsy Hoolihan?

YES! Thanks, I've been googling "greatest player ever" "snooker" without joy for the past hour.

martina hingis

More of a billiards player, Hingis.

The Daily Star's front page actually fooled me this morning as I read some bloke's copy from across the tube carriage:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7493/gazzaer9.jpg

Dead in a more metaphorical sense, apparently:

Fun-loving football legend Paul Gascoigne is “dead”, his TV star stepdaughter Bianca revealed last night.

She said the wisecracking prankster loved by millions is gone for good because of the demons tormenting his mind.

Telly star and model Bianca Gascoigne, 21, says her stepdad will never again be the prankster who won the hearts of fans all over the world.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/37157/BIANCA-DAD-CAN-T-BE-SAVED/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7431283.stm

And now sectioned under the mental health act.

Don't forget that Boy George also had six weeks to live says brother in 1986.

Wasn't there a Winehouse-based front page headline recently that used this same oddly reoccurring timescale?

Just claimed to have gone 4 months without food or water

But with 4 bottles of vodka per day though, anyone can do that

Or whiskey

you simply hate to see it

Rt - Gazza

Like - Snoop Dogg pic.twitter.com/bAiwyoSnc1

— Football Fights (@footbalIfights) June 28, 2019