FourFourTwo November 2020 77MOREOnFOURFOURTWO.COM
- GascoigneandGazzamania:FromItalia 90
toEuro96,howoneplayerchangedEnglish
football(bySi Hawkins) - Gazza,theuntoldstories:theneed-to-know
talesthatlauncheda legend - Euro96,thecompletehistory– a six-part
series(byGaryParkinson)
“At their next match – an FA Trophy tie at
home to Gainsborough – all the players wore
black armbands for Best. Gazza didn’t have
one so he grabbed the captain’s, which was
black with a great big white ‘C’ on it. He put it
up on his suit sleeve in tribute, but it was the
captain’s armband and it looked stupid.”
The cracks became increasingly difficult to
hide as his tenure wore on. Pitts recalls an
instance when Gascoigne “didn’t even know
the score” during a post-match interview,
and another when he ambled onto the pitch
as a game was taking place.
Kettering’s players witnessed it from close
quarters, and while there was no suggestion
that Gascoigne didn’t seem capable, alcohol
was prevalent around their manager on more
than one occasion.
“Gazza really would do anything for us, but
unfortunately we also saw the other side of
it: the illness of being an alcoholic,” admits
Solkhon. “Even for away games, he’d bring
a bottle of wine on the team bus. While we
were doing a pre-match warm-up, he’d pop
into the bar and we’d spot his mate Jimmy
Five Bellies in there with Chris Waddle. There
was always drink around him. I didn’t see it
at training in the evenings, but on matchdays
it was there. I don’t know if it was an anxiety
or nerves things for him, to calm them.
“In terms of team talks, maybe the drink
did show because he got very emotional and
started crying as the passion came through.
You looked around wondering whether that
was him – you saw against West Germany at
the World Cup that he’s a sensitive bloke and
wears his heart on his sleeve – or all the wine
and whiskey beforehand.
“Before an away game against Alfreton, we
were getting off the bus and he fell out nearthe Sky Sports cameras, but they missed it.
The waterlogged pitch failed a late inspection
and Gazza was arguing the game should be
played – I don’t know how much alcohol had
been consumed to make him argumentative,
but it [the postponement] did piss everyone
off at the time.”
His sacking wasn’t the end, though. After
spending the night in a Liverpool police cell
over an alleged attack on a photographer at
a charity event (a charge that was dropped
a few days later), a highly strung Gascoigne
appeared on Sky to settle a few scores with
Ladak. At the fundraiser, Gazza had fumed,
“I’m the manager and he’s the chairman,
and I told him to butt out of my affairs. Why
should I let a f**king doctor run my team?
He’s not picking my team – that’s the f**king
manager’s job, and I’m the manager.”
On Sky, Gascoigne accused “control freak”
Ladak of meddling with team selections and
transfers, and rejected claims that drinking
had affected his role. “I had a double brandy
before a game, but before it was four bottles
of whiskey – it’s not any more,” he insisted.
Rather than accepting Ladak’s decision,
Gascoigne – who also admitted to suffering
a “tough time” over the previous year – said
the investment he had made upon joining
Kettering meant he couldn’t be sacked. With
the support of the fans and players, he would
try to buy the club. He even announced his
intention to turn up at Town’s next match –
the rearranged game against Alfreton – to
manage the team from behind the dugout.
Just like when Gazza’s stint in the hot seat
got underway, the nation’s media turned out
in force. The idea of the scorned star arriving
in Derbyshire to bark orders from the terraces
was too much to ignore: journalists lay siege
on Alfreton’s ground and compact press box.
The story hunters were left empty handed,
however, as Gascoigne failed to appear. The
entire episode was consigned to the annals
of what might have been.
“It could have been massive with Gazza
involved if he had other people around him
who knew this level of football,” says Solkhon.
“To drop down to Conference North level, it’s
such a different league – you need different
players [to what the management team was
used to]. They had the right ideas, but needed
a bit more help and guidance from someone
with that knowledge to move forward.
“If that 39 days had become 339 days, who
knows what could have happened?”
As with much surrounding Gascoigne’s life
and career, it’s a question we will never have
an answer for.KETTERIn G
TOWnLeft and above
Gazza certainly
looked the part
as a manager,
but tales of him
hitting the bottle
meant his stint
was only short