Paul Gascoigne – Gazza, born in Gateshead in 1967 – is an English former footballer widely regarded as the most naturally talented English player of his generation, a judgement the National Football Museum makes more or less official. An attacking midfielder, he went from Newcastle United to Tottenham Hotspur, won the FA Cup in 1991, then moved to Lazio and on to Rangers, where he helped win two league titles, a Scottish Cup and a Scottish League Cup. He won 57 England caps, scored ten international goals, and supplied English football with some of its permanent images: the tears at the 1990 World Cup semi-final, the goal against Scotland at Euro 96. At his peak the public adoration had its own name – Gazzamania – and Terry Wogan once called him probably the most popular man in Britain.
The later chapters are darker, and an honest page cannot skip them: since retirement his life has been dominated by severe struggles with alcohol and mental health, lived out under relentless press attention.
8 hours and 16 minutes
