Gaza Strip: Why Gazza hated Saturday nights

Former football star Paul Gascoigne used to get paranoid hearing the Gaza Strip. Picture: PA

The former England footballer - known as Gazza - has opened up about his life and career in a new documentary film Gascoigne, which has its premiere in London tonight.

The 48-year-old from Gateshead set a record when he transferred from Tottenham Hotspur to Italian club Lazio for £8.5 million in 1992, and went down in history for crying in front of millions when England failed to make it through to the Fifa World Cup Final in 1990.

But he has also battled mental illness, drugs and alcohol addiction. He was sectioned by his family when he became convinced his phone was being hacked, but last month won victory in the High Court as one of the celebrities awarded damages for phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers.

Gascoigne told the Press Association: “I had a great career. There’s been parts since I stopped playing that I’ve really enjoyed, and then I get knocked down again for no reason.

“Sometimes it’s got to the stage now where I hate Saturday nights, because jack shit knows what’s coming in the papers on Sunday.

“I tell you what was the worst one, the Gaza Strip. You know the term the Gaza Strip, remember that? That was murder for me. I’d be sitting there having a shave and that, and the news would come on ‘And the Gazza...’ and I’d be like ‘What’s that?!’ and I realised it was the Gaza Strip. I couldn’t wait for that to end.”

The new film, written and directed by filmmaker Jane Preston, charts Gascoigne’s rise from a young lad kicking a tennis ball on the streets of Gateshead, through his rocky career, marred by injury and much-hyped transfer deals, and overcoming the lows of his addiction.

Gascoigne said: “I’ve given stuff in this movie that I’ve not told anybody, I’m welling up now (talking about it).

“I might seem nice and calm and relaxed and happy now, but come seven o’clock tonight I’m going to be shitting myself, going how is it going to come out?

“But I’m pleased it’s out. I haven’t seen it. I know what it’s like ‘cause I lived it. So it will be very emotional watching it tonight.”

Featuring Gary Lineker, the film also celebrates what a talented player and goal-scorer Gascoigne was, as well as a fantastic entertainer, for both fans and team mates.

Gascoigne said: “I just wanted to do this for the reason that not everything in my life was rosie. Even from a young age what I’ve had to cope with, what I’ve had to put up with and still come through it. Whether it be injuries, whethere it be rehabs, whether it be taking drugs years ago.

“And I’m not wanting to be proud of... some of the things I’ve let myself down, but people think, ‘Why’s he doing this?’ Because I had illnesses, I had problems.

“But my football side of it, people forget. I had 20 years of playing football and entertaining fans.”

• Gascoigne is released in cinemas for one night only, tonight and on DVD from Monday June 15.