Paul Gascoigne ‘feeling good’ after health scare

FORMER football star Paul Gascoigne wants to get back to reality after the latest “horrific” health scare in his battle with alcohol addiction, he said today.

The ex-England and Newcastle player said that he was feeling “good”, adding: “I’m quite excited what the future holds - I had a bad time.”

The 45-year-old repeated comments made earlier to a newspaper that doctors feared he would die when he needed hospital treatment in the United States recently after going there for detox.

He said: “I went to the treatment centre, and they tried to detox us, and they couldn’t, so they rushed us to hospital, and that’s where it got quite serious.

“I just remember the guy saying to the doctor in the treatment centre, ‘I don’t think this guy’s going to make it’, and obviously I put my head up a little bit, and I had tubes all over my arms and body, and

getting injected, and I said, please don’t let me die, I need to water the plants. The plants were more important than me. The plants passed away and I survived.”

Gascoigne thanked celebrities including Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans and footballer Gary Mabbutt who helped him. Mabbutt is recovering in hospital himself after emergency bypass surgery on his leg, and Gascoigne said: “Get well Gaz.”

The former player added: “Seeing the support I had, people are out there caring.

“Sometimes I feel it’s easy for me to get treatment, but this time was horrific.”

Asked about comparisons with the late former Manchester United star George Best, Gascoigne said: “God bless him, he’s passed away, and I was friends with George, but I just felt like George didn’t want to get well. I’m trying so hard to do it.”