Paul Gascoigne begins UK tour in Motherwell

Twenty years on from leaving Lazio for Rangers, Paul Gascoigne spent an evening on stage at the Motherwell Concert Hall, regaling fans of stories of his time in Scotland, both on and off the pitch.

Gazza reassured the crowd that he is in good health and that it was brilliant to be back in Scotland.

The first topic of conversation was Gazza’s hat-trick in the penultimate game of the 95/96 season against Aberdeen at Ibrox.

Paul Gascoigne action for Rangers. Picture: TSPL

“The buzz was brilliant and it wasn’t a bad way to win the league.” He said.

Gazza then went on to talk about another famous goal, one which many Scotland fans hate to see. His goal against the national team in the Euro 96 campaign for England, where he flicks the ball over a helpless Hendry before slotting the ball into the net.

Gascoigne remembered seeing Colin Hendry a few years later and said: “Hendry hadn’t seen me in a few years and I told him it was because I thought I had left him at Wembley.”

The 47 year old told the fans how it felt to play for Rangers and how easy it was to sign for the Glasgow club. “After hearing the club was interested in signing me, it was a simple decision to make. I went straight home and started packing for the trip to Scotland.”

Gazza said after meeting with chairman at the time, David Murray, and being shown the fans gathering outside his office window, he knew he had made the right decision.

“I came to Rangers at a great time, there were so many great players.” He said.

Gascoigne told the audience some of the practical jokes that would happen with his team mates.

One anecdote that left the audience laughing was when he spent the night at Ian Durrants house the night before training and after going to bed,

Durrant moved the clocks forward three hours, meaning Gazza woke up, thought he was late, rushed to training only to find he arrived at 5am instead of 8am.

Gazza treated fans to other classic tales including hiding two fish in team mate, Gordon Durie’s car.

Other topics discussed were the nine in a row season with Rangers, his time at Tottenham, where he brought an ostrich to training and his famous run in with the hard hitting Vinnie Jones.

Also on stage was ex-Rangers star Lee McCulloch and ex-referee John Rowbotham, who both described Paul as a legend and a gentleman.

Gascoigne was at his cheeky best as he entertained his fans and said there was no other place he could have started his tour than Scotland.