Paul Gascoigne

The film was largely made up of archive footage and interviews with journalists, rather than those who knew him best.

But it was his off-field antics that were being referred to by former Spurs teammate Paul Stewart when he said: “It was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Gazza as Jack Nicholson.” And they “had” him with a big-money exclusive contract, although cheaper, more underhand methods were also available to Fleet Street. But phone hacking is for next week’s episode. The Sun had to have him,” said a former journalist at the paper, Neil Wallis, with splendid ambiguity.

Gazza was loved and loathed in a rollercoaster of a football career and that is set to be explored in a new two-part documentary on the BBC that focuses on ...

At such a young age, it had the potential to shape him for the rest of his life, but he found an escapism in football, in which he went on to become one of England’s most gifted players. Last year, Gazza emotionally recalled the night of the car collision, and how he thought that his friend was going to be okay, only for him to die a short while later. That was it, that was his last movements.

Paul Gascoigne was a football genius and a tormented soul. A new BBC documentary digs deep into both to shed light on a life of magic moments, ...

Indeed, perhaps the surprise is that he was able to hold it together for as long as he did. That Gascoigne was left unable to trust his own mother, naturally confused when private conversations were emerging in the press, is desperately sad. The saddest commentary comes from his sister Anna. "Football was Paul's entire life," she says. "He wasn't paranoid," says Paul McMullan, another News of the World journalist. The media are cast as villains of the piece, but they were often his enablers as much as they were his tormentors. But there is no shying away from the fact that elements of his character cannot be excused even when attempting to explain. The transfer to Tottenham in 1988, for a British record fee before he had played for England, only exacerbated fears. A reporter refers to temptations and how he will manage to avoid them in the future. "He is quite a complicated character, actually, and he needs people who love him," says one. "People just wanted to touch him," says his old team-mate Paul Stewart. Gascoigne was just a child when a young friend was killed in a car crash, dying in his arms. Paul Gascoigne was a football genius and a tormented soul.

THE story of Paul Gascoigne's life will be told in a new BBC documentary - Gazza - this week.In it, fans will learn about the brilliance of the Englan.

I enjoyed every minute of it and I was still performing on the pitch. What time is the Paul Gascoigne documentary on? Of the documentary, Gazza says: "This is the real story of my time in football - the good and the bad of who I am - and what really happened around me."

Get all of the latest Football news from NationalWorld. Providing fresh perspective online for news across the UK.

Over the course of a long and storied career, Gascoigne appeared for a number of high-profile clubs. The documentary is five years in the making and has plenty of remarkable footage on display for viewers to witness themselves. Despite being at the centre of a number of controversies both during his playing career and in retirement, the ex-England international has endured as a popular figure among many British football fans.

Born in Gateshead, the former football player was named Paul John. This was a tribute to Paul McCartney and John Lennon of the Beatles. He was first noticed by ...

In 2014 he was spotted in the garden of his Dorset home showing improvement with a cup of coffee and a cigar. Gascoigne credits the anti-alcohol pellet surgery he underwent to stop his drinking habits. In 2017, a spokesman for Gascoigne confirmed that he had entered a rehabilitation centre in a serious effort to stay “alcohol-free”. In 2020, he told The Mirror he was in a “better place” and the “happiest” he’d been in many years.