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Gazza: My Story by Paul Gascoigne

with Hunter Davis

Headline $250

Recently asked what he considered the England football team's strength, France striker Thierry Henry replied: 'Their desire.'

And their weakness? 'Their desire.'

Paul Gascoigne embodies this English phenomenon. Perhaps the most talented footballer the country has produced, he is better remembered for his spectacular self-destruction. This biography represents the first time the 36-year-old has spoken about it in detail - having now been sober for three months. He begins with 'Beer, Wine, Vodka, Cocaine, Morphine, Paranoid, Anxiety' before a football has even been mentioned. Yet by the end of My Story you wonder whether his career was not so much a tragic waste as the salvation of Gascoigne. Suffering  nervous ticks at the age of 12, football became therapy for him. That he happened to be brilliant was a bonus.

His tears at the 1990 World Cup unleashed Gazza-mania. His account suggests a man-child who never got to grips with his fame, living in the shadow of an alter-ego. In an injury-ravaged career,  he shone at international level as well as at Newcastle, Tottenham, Lazio and Rangers. Yet alcohol - and its ability to help him escape - informs everything. Whether on World Cup  duty in Italy or in the changing room at half  time in Glasgow, Gazza is searching for a sneaky drink. He starts smoking at 28; cocaine binges soon follow.

Gazza was a magnet for attention, either by performing magic on the pitch or by parading around in plastic breasts off it.  He burped into a microphone and, after being asked on live Norwegian television whether he had a message for viewers, said, 'Yes, f*** off'.

When he explains his side of the infamous dentist's chair incident in Hong Kong's now defunct China Jump club in 1996, it's like a school kid wrangling his way out of detention. 'It was all a laugh, no more than us letting our hair down before the Euro finals,' he pleads. He became one of the players of the tournament.

The perception that Gazza's off-field games showed he was coping with fame was far wide of the goal. Gascoigne was, and is, crippled with neurosis. He still sleeps with the light on, and is   obsessed with death, blaming himself for the demise of three friends during his  teenage years.

As his spent fortune of #20 million (HK$284million)  and broken marriage testify, 'Gazza' consumed Gascoigne. Only now, in quitting football, he believes he can save himself. The turning point was his short stint at Gansu Tianma in China. While little is made of his experience there, he says he realised the need to 'escape from myself' and flee to a clinic in Arizona. The spectre of Sars is his excuse for failing to return to China.

One of the most telling sections of the book is a list of quotes from coaches, players, doctors and celebrities. 'If a snooker player or golfer cried during a game, I think people in that sport may realise there was a problem,' said Dr Raj Persaud in the Daily Mail. 'Gascoigne could have been helped a long time ago.'



Gazza: My Story by Paul Gascoigne