It's a crying game for Gazza as fans watch one-time hero's life go down the drain

Published on Monday 5 May 2008 21:57

DRIFTING from hotel to hotel, Paul Gascoigne's apparently lonely life is not one many would envy.

The days when Gazza's name was synonymous with footballing genius are a distant memory: instead, it is associated with increasingly desperate tales of alcohol-fuelled excess.

The latest chapter occurred at the weekend, when the 40-year-old was taken to hospital after an incident at a four-star London hotel on Sunday.

Ambulance crews and police were called to the Knightsbridge establishment and Gascoigne voluntarily went to hospital where he was being assessed.

No offence was reported and no further action was taken, police said.

"A man was causing concern in a hotel...," police said in a statement. "He was tended to by an ambulance crew and taken to hospital voluntarily."

The incident is just the latest development in an increasingly unedifying spectacle that Gascoigne's life has become since the former Rangers, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder quit competitive football.

It is no secret that he has had a long and very public battle with alcohol and personal problems.

In February he was detained under the Mental Health Act after acting as "a potential menace" at a luxury hotel in Gateshead, north-east England, only being released after two weeks of treatment, apparently into the care of his family.

But since then he has reportedly lived a nomadic and solitary existence, flitting from one hotel to another.

Despite the help and support of family, friends and former footballing colleagues, the vicious circle of alcohol abuse and depression continues unabated, flaring up occasionally into headline-grabbing incidents.

Those close to him claim that the end of Gascoigne's footballing career is the source of all his problems. Former Newcastle defender John Anderson, who played alongside Gascoigne at St James' Park, said: "All he ever wanted to do was play football and he was at his happiest when he was on a football pitch.

"Once he got out of the environment of the football club, that's when all his problems started."

He added: "We all know he has got problems and we wish him all the best because he was a great, great player, a great lad, and you do hope he comes through it.

Dr Scott Wylie, lead addictions clinician at the Glasgow Priory, said that for sporting figures, the lack of a career can allow an existing drink problem to take hold fully: "When they are still in their careers, there is a support structure that is enforced and keeps them going. Once that's gone, their main role, they have the opportunity to drink all day."

Gascoigne's one real attempt at coaching, managing Nationwide Conference North club Kettering, lasted just 39 days, when he was fired amidst claims that he was "under the influence of alcohol before, during and after several first-team games and training sessions."

Yesterday Gascoigne's friends and supporters came to his defence.

Daniel Wynne, chairman of the Tottenham Hotspur trust, said: "He was a legend at Tottenham and he had his greatest years at White Hart Lane. We hope he gets back to full health as soon as possible and we look forward to seeing him at White Hart Lane soon."

THE LOWS OF PAUL GASCOIGNE

• 1996: Pictured with other England players engaging in a drinking game called the "Dentist's Chair" during England's preparations for the European Championships.

• 1998: Receives threats to his life and is fined 20,000 by Rangers after mimicking playing a flute during an Old Firm match.

• 1998: Newspapers print photographs of a drunken Gascoigne eating kebabs in the early hours, days before the England World Cup squad is announced. He was not picked.

• 1998: Divorced from wife Cheryl, to whom he was physically abusive.

• 2003: Signs with Chinese club Gansu Tianma, but soon flees to America for treatment for alcoholism and depression.

• 2005: Managerial career at Kettering Town lasts just 39 days, with the club's officials blaming Gascoigne's drink problems.

• 2007: Emergency surgery for a perforated stomach ulcer.

• 2008: Sectioned under the Mental Health Act.