Gazza Again

[Jockstar]

I really do hope he can sort himself out.

Former midfielder admitted to treatment centre

Ex-England star Gascoigne back in rehab

February 4, 2013

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Former Tottenham and England midfielder Paul Gascoigne has been admitted to a treatment centre in the United States as he continues his long-running battle with alcoholism.

Paul Gascoigne is a football idol to many but has battled drink and drug addictions for many years

• Oliver: England's flawed genius

Gascoigne was widely considered one of the finest players of his generation, with his virtuoso displays helping England reach the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and 1996 European Championship and his club career taking in successful spells at hometown side Newcastle, Spurs, Lazio and Rangers.

But throughout his career, Gazza - as he is affectionately known by fans and the media - was plagued by off-field problems including alcoholism and drug addiction, with those issues spiralling out of control after he retired from playing in 2004.

Gascoigne has been in and out of rehab centres for many years and a day after his agent Terry Baker spoke publicly about his concerns for his client's welfare, the 45-year-old has checked in to a centre in a renewed bid to battle his demons.

In a statement, Gascoigne's management company GamePlan Solutions said: "Alcoholic Paul Gascoigne has been experiencing a tough time of late. He has been asking for help and has willingly been admitted to a treatment centre in America.

"He has complex issues that are currently being dealt with by professionals. Paul has been extremely touched and overwhelmed by the generous offers of help and support over the past few days. He is motivated to fully understand and control his addiction problem under guidance.''

Gascoigne, who was twice sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2008, broke down crying at a charity event in Northampton last week, leading to new concerns about his current state of mind.

On Sunday, the Professional Footballers' Association released a statement, which read: "The PFA continues to be concerned about Paul Gascoigne's welfare. he Union has provided assistance financially and medically, supporting the provision of rehabilitation and treatments received both in the UK and abroad.

"The PFA recently arranged a detoxification for Paul through the Sporting Chance Clinic. Regrettably Paul checked himself out and chose not to complete the programme. We would like to stress that the support of the PFA and the Tony Adams Sporting Chance Clinic remain available both to Paul and any other members in a similar need or circumstance."

[smokie36]

Best place for an alcoholic.

Hope he finds long term sobriety.

[StevieH]

it sounds horrible this, almost like he's beyond help. he's a very sick man. poor sod.

[carmine]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

[StevieH]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

yeah every time there's a new headline with his name in it i expect it to be that he's topped himself.

[carmine]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

yeah every time there's a new headline with his name in it i expect it to be that he's topped himself.

A mate of mine knows Chris Waddle. He asked about Gazza and Waddle's response was "know news is good news." gazza's well liked particularily amongst the guys from his playing days because he's a genuinely nice, kind person. He has a big heart and is very generous. But he has a dreadful illness. The bipolar disorder is a huge contributor to the drinking binges too. Its a vicious circle and an absolute tragedy

[Chicog]

He was always a drinker and he always will be. George Best didn't stop even when they wasted a liver on him. Why does anyone think this story is going to have a happy ending?

[mrbojangles]

One thing that isn't mentioned in the article is the generosity of some of his mates, as it's them who are paying for the treatment. I think it's Chris Evans (Radio DJ) Ronnie (can't remember his last name from Talk Sport) and another. Nice gesture no matter how much dosh they have.

[smokie36]

Agreed mrboj. Until you have witnessed someone suffering from this illness you can't appreciate how destructive it is.

I wish him a long sobriety once he completes his treatment.

[rijit]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

yeah every time there's a new headline with his name in it i expect it to be that he's topped himself.

But he has a dreadful illness. The bipolar disorder is a huge contributor to the drinking binges too. Its a vicious circle and an absolute tragedy

Sensitively put, and the drugs they prescribe have awful side effects and can have terrible consequences if the patient stops taking them.

[mjj]

On a happier note, I loved watching him in Italy 90.

Get well soon Gazza.

[StevieH]

excellent article on one of the most horrible parasites in football. and that's saying something.

http://www.guardian....igne?CMP=twt_gu

The PFA, privacy and the public case of Paul Gascoigne's mental health

The sorry plight of former England midfielder who has checked into an American rehab centre

When a personal email from the Professional Footballers' Association boss Gordon Taylor drops into your inbox, the sender's name appears as "GORDON TAYLOR OBE". I know this because the footballers' union chief once emailed me after something I'd written and, while I suspect what follows is unlikely to draw a further missive – unless it's an invitation to the high court – the self-regard sticks in the mind. Of course, it's not unique in public life: the late Wendy Richard, who enjoyed a "difficult" reputation in showbiz lore, was given to signing her credit card receipts "Wendy Richard MBE". But it is certainly a useful character note as Mr Taylor makes another of his pastoral forays on to the airwaves.

The occasion that has precipitated Gordon's latest silence-breaking is the endlessly sorry plight of Gazza, whose most recent manifestation has since seen him check in to an American rehab centre. Or perhaps the occasion that accelerated Gordon's silence-breaking was some tweets from Peter Schmeichel, in which the former Manchester United goalkeeper declined to acknowledge the man reputed to be the highest paid union official in the world as the spiritual heir to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. "Gazza needs help," wrote Schmeichel. "Come on PFA & (PFA chief executive) Gordon Taylor, time to step up … I think the footballing community, as the family we sometimes claim to be, must do more to help Gazza and others like him. Instead of getting great deals on cars & other luxury goods for members, PFA should commit more time and funds to help the like of Gazza."

Well. It is true that the PFA's own website announces that helping commercial organisations "fully exploit the potential of the players" is "a key aspect of the work of the union". But any slight to his personage is like the Bat-Signal to Mr Taylor, who swung into some of the most questionable defensive action since Mr Schmeichel's own attempts to deflect Ian Wright from troubling his goal.

"Peter doesn't know what we've done for Paul," he bristled to the Press Association, "a lot of which has to be confidential." You'd certainly hope so. But you'd be amazed how much doesn't have to be confidential, at least according to Gordon's ruling. As the days wore on, in fact, you could scarcely move for the union boss granting interviews concerning Gazza's mental stateand past treatment in what appeared to be the noble cause of self-defence.

"I've spoken to Paul at the weekend, and he's said it's just a blip," he told Five Live listeners, thoughtfully telegraphing the details of his telephone conversation with a man demonstrably in desperate mental health. "We just don't want this to be another George Best tragedy." To underscore this point similar thoughts were published on the union's website, where, among other displays of professional care, Gordon warns: "If we are not careful, it is going to be akin to George Best."

Elsewhere Taylor had his clinical hat on. "He sounds as if he needs almost a 24-hour watching brief at the moment," ran what was beginning to sound like a 24-hour broadcasting brief, and you have to admire the confidence of a man willing to preface a psychiatric diagnosis with the words "sounds as if".

"The last time we had him in for detox," came another detail on Gazza, "he checked himself out earlier than he should have."

So much detail. Perhaps I am out of touch with current schools of thought on the treatment of mental illness but, unless one of the better medical institutions has just published some groundbreaking research on the benefits of a snippy takedown of tweeters and blabbing to the media, is this what might be regarded as too much detail? You could understand the media's interests may deem Gazza's anguish public property; as his union chief, Taylor should take an altogether more seemly path.

It was Gordon, I can't help recalling, who might have blown the whistle on the phone-hacking scandal he might reasonably have expected to have extended beyond his case and into the lives of his membership, had he not opted to take hundreds of thousands of pounds from News International and agree to keep schtum. Odd how a pastoral crusader so fastidious about his own confidentiality can appear so cavalier with that of some of his most high-profile members.

Only recently Taylor responded to some baiting by Joey Barton by bringing up the player's own troubles: "We spent money on [Joey] because we tried to help him at the Sporting Chance Clinic with anger management, and people spent hours and hours with him to try to get him back on track."

Ouch. Sharing even broad details of members' treatment once is unfortunate. Twice begins to look like a certain carelessness. Alas, our hero remains in what the armchair pros call denial.

"Joey can say what he likes," ran one of his salvos to Barton. "I've got a thick skin." In truth, his epidermis appears so gossamer-sensitive that he is football's equivalent of the Bubble Boy. In fact, I think all of us who love Gordon and want to help him would like to see him safely cocooned against the prickling barbs, even if that meant that he was unable to venture forth into the public arena ever again. And he can have that long-range, pseudo-medical diagnosis for free.

Edited February 7, 2013 by StevieH

[rijit]

excellent article on one of the most horrible parasites in football. and that's saying something.

http://www.guardian....igne?CMP=twt_gu

The PFA, privacy and the public case of Paul Gascoigne's mental health

The sorry plight of former England midfielder who has checked into an American rehab centre

When a personal email from the Professional Footballers' Association boss Gordon Taylor drops into your inbox, the sender's name appears as "GORDON TAYLOR OBE". I know this because the footballers' union chief once emailed me after something I'd written and, while I suspect what follows is unlikely to draw a further missive – unless it's an invitation to the high court – the self-regard sticks in the mind. Of course, it's not unique in public life: the late Wendy Richard, who enjoyed a "difficult" reputation in showbiz lore, was given to signing her credit card receipts "Wendy Richard MBE". But it is certainly a useful character note as Mr Taylor makes another of his pastoral forays on to the airwaves.

The occasion that has precipitated Gordon's latest silence-breaking is the endlessly sorry plight of Gazza, whose most recent manifestation has since seen him check in to an American rehab centre. Or perhaps the occasion that accelerated Gordon's silence-breaking was some tweets from Peter Schmeichel, in which the former Manchester United goalkeeper declined to acknowledge the man reputed to be the highest paid union official in the world as the spiritual heir to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. "Gazza needs help," wrote Schmeichel. "Come on PFA & (PFA chief executive) Gordon Taylor, time to step up … I think the footballing community, as the family we sometimes claim to be, must do more to help Gazza and others like him. Instead of getting great deals on cars & other luxury goods for members, PFA should commit more time and funds to help the like of Gazza."

Well. It is true that the PFA's own website announces that helping commercial organisations "fully exploit the potential of the players" is "a key aspect of the work of the union". But any slight to his personage is like the Bat-Signal to Mr Taylor, who swung into some of the most questionable defensive action since Mr Schmeichel's own attempts to deflect Ian Wright from troubling his goal.

"Peter doesn't know what we've done for Paul," he bristled to the Press Association, "a lot of which has to be confidential." You'd certainly hope so. But you'd be amazed how much doesn't have to be confidential, at least according to Gordon's ruling. As the days wore on, in fact, you could scarcely move for the union boss granting interviews concerning Gazza's mental stateand past treatment in what appeared to be the noble cause of self-defence.

"I've spoken to Paul at the weekend, and he's said it's just a blip," he told Five Live listeners, thoughtfully telegraphing the details of his telephone conversation with a man demonstrably in desperate mental health. "We just don't want this to be another George Best tragedy." To underscore this point similar thoughts were published on the union's website, where, among other displays of professional care, Gordon warns: "If we are not careful, it is going to be akin to George Best."

Elsewhere Taylor had his clinical hat on. "He sounds as if he needs almost a 24-hour watching brief at the moment," ran what was beginning to sound like a 24-hour broadcasting brief, and you have to admire the confidence of a man willing to preface a psychiatric diagnosis with the words "sounds as if".

"The last time we had him in for detox," came another detail on Gazza, "he checked himself out earlier than he should have."

So much detail. Perhaps I am out of touch with current schools of thought on the treatment of mental illness but, unless one of the better medical institutions has just published some groundbreaking research on the benefits of a snippy takedown of tweeters and blabbing to the media, is this what might be regarded as too much detail? You could understand the media's interests may deem Gazza's anguish public property; as his union chief, Taylor should take an altogether more seemly path.

It was Gordon, I can't help recalling, who might have blown the whistle on the phone-hacking scandal he might reasonably have expected to have extended beyond his case and into the lives of his membership, had he not opted to take hundreds of thousands of pounds from News International and agree to keep schtum. Odd how a pastoral crusader so fastidious about his own confidentiality can appear so cavalier with that of some of his most high-profile members.

Only recently Taylor responded to some baiting by Joey Barton by bringing up the player's own troubles: "We spent money on [Joey] because we tried to help him at the Sporting Chance Clinic with anger management, and people spent hours and hours with him to try to get him back on track."

Ouch. Sharing even broad details of members' treatment once is unfortunate. Twice begins to look like a certain carelessness. Alas, our hero remains in what the armchair pros call denial.

"Joey can say what he likes," ran one of his salvos to Barton. "I've got a thick skin." In truth, his epidermis appears so gossamer-sensitive that he is football's equivalent of the Bubble Boy. In fact, I think all of us who love Gordon and want to help him would like to see him safely cocooned against the prickling barbs, even if that meant that he was unable to venture forth into the public arena ever again. And he can have that long-range, pseudo-medical diagnosis for free.

we'll have to disagree on this one steve IMO a poor article, she's collecting various innuendos', ill judged and ill

informed tweets and cobbled 2 gether more a personal attack on Taylor than a genuine concern 4 gazzas mental health issues.

yet another one exploiting GAZZA.

[Chicog]

One thing that isn't mentioned in the article is the generosity of some of his mates, as it's them who are paying for the treatment. I think it's Chris Evans (Radio DJ) Ronnie (can't remember his last name from Talk Sport) and another. Nice gesture no matter how much dosh they have.

Yeah it doesn't mention Jimmy Five-Bellies Fat-sponging-cun_t who's supposed to be his best mate but constantly enabled his binge drinking, does it?

[StevieH]

we'll have to disagree on this one steve IMO a poor article, she's collecting various innuendos', ill judged and ill

informed tweets and cobbled 2 gether more a personal attack on Taylor than a genuine concern 4 gazzas mental health issues.

yet another one exploiting GAZZA.

i think you've missed the point there really mate.

[carmine]

Chris Evans might well be contributing a small portion of his many millions but he is a total and utter hypocrit. I remember well the times during the build up to the euros he was photo'd regularily by paparazzi binging in the west end with Gazza. By the looks of things there was no hint of a "shouldn't be be better off staying off the booze and working out for fitness" Evans as usual enjoying the limelight. Then Hoddle does not pick him due to Gazzas due to lack of match fitness and quite correctly.

Evans then uses his radio one breakfast show to wage a campagne slagging off Hoddle when that ginger <deleted> was one of the main guilty parties in the saga.

Yes gazza had to take responsibility for his actions but as in George Bests situation theres all too many hangers on trying to milk their popularity and very obvious weaknesses. Evans is a loathesome character imho

Edited February 8, 2013 by carmine

[Chicog]

What do you expect, he's a ginga.

[carmine]

What do you expect, he's a ginga.

Fair comment

[StevieH]

lovely piece of writing from george caulkin of the times.

Nothing black and white about GazzaGeorge CaulkinFebruary 07 2013 12:02PM

Pink, pudgy and dipped in chip-fat – I remember Paul Gascoigne. Hair shorn above the ears, gurning grin where teeth should be, shorts too tight – I remember him. As ugly as sin and as sexy as it, too, because with a ball at his boot-tips and running at full tilt, I’ve never seen football so muscular or beautiful. I remember Paul Gascoigne and, by God, I love him.Close to the touchline, an off day at St James’ Park, I remember a shout of exasperation from nearby: “Pull your finger out Gazza, man, you fat bastard.” And he did, first one finger and then another, holding them aloft in a rigid V, with a “f*** off” and a wink thrown in. I don’t recall complaints to stewards, demands for an arrest, front-page exposés or questions in the House. I remember laughter.

I remember seeing him sprint forward from the centre circle. He looked too big for the pitch, let alone his strip, but when he moved, the ungainly became poetic, although it was a violent sort of artistry – elbows and sharp edges – that took him around, past and occasionally through defenders. It looked like human bagatelle, the ball clacking between his feet, and yet somehow under control, the only aspect of his life that was.The North East could not contain him, but talent drained away frequently back then and when he moved from Newcastle United to Tottenham Hotspur, an axis shifted with him. He was such a draw, such a force.

When he burst into Sir Bobby Robson’s England squad and refused to be ignored, I remember feeling differently about my country; it wasn’t just Thatcher’s country, it was Gazza’s. And he was ours.That era of Robson’s; Gascoigne, Beardsley, Waddle, Robson, men from a region of coal, steel and shipbuilding. That felt like some sort of affirmation. I remember those tears – “the tears that watered the Turin pitch” as Sir Bobby would refer to them – because for people who adored football it brought a wider acceptance that our sport could bring emotion of a warming kind, even if the source was sadness. He brought change.

I remember a kind of role-reversal, Sir Bobby wiping moisture from his face when, in his last, ailing months, he spoke of Gascoigne’s mountainous heart, of how he’d tried to buy his former manager a disability scooter, an absurd act of generosity that he could ill afford. “Paul cried in the service of his country, but it’s far too soon for us to be shedding tears for him,” Robson said then. It still is.“Newcastle saw the start of him, red-faced and chubby though he was back them,” Sir Bobby once wrote. “He could head the ball, pass it, dribble with it, shoot and he’d train all day. He drove his managers mad, of course, because he never lost that precociousness, his cocky stupidity, his willingness to do anything in search of a quick laugh. But he remained so popular because he was such an innocent.”

I’ve read about the daft stories. The sweet and heart-melting ones, like when he reported for training at Newcastle as a kid, found nobody there because the session had been cancelled and went carol singing to earn his bus fare home. The daftness that became a mania, a compulsion, the addictions which left his body wracked and mind addled. But I do not know if they are fact or legend and do not remember them, because I was not there.I do not condone the lapses, the appalling behaviour, but do my best not to offer judgments on the private lives of others, for the simple reason that I wouldn’t want judgment on mine. There are exceptions to that, because I’m a hypocrite – Nile Ranger makes my every pore ache – but I try to disassociate Paul Gascoigne the player from whatever “Gazza” now represents.I’ve written before about the temptations Tyneside offers.

I grew up with footballers and flirted on the fringes of that extraordinary life and can remember how it felt to have a drink in your hand with faces turned in your direction, how money and alcohol and testosterone and danger can provide a headlong rush. How being close to home can also feel like Hollywood. It was a blast; less so, when I woke up in a hospital, scabbed and reeking.

I’ve been thinking about Gascoigne this week, and it is only partially because of the latest series of photographs and tales, the drinking, and the slurring and another last chance. I thought of him because of Danny Graham, the centre forward who joined Sunderland from Swansea City last month and has been newsworthy because of his boyhood allegiance to Newcastle and the careless way he once expressed it.

I thought of how a career, a life, can be shaped by one action, one comment, one sip, one grave error or, in Gascoigne’s case, one horrendous tackle which led to a compendium of grief. “God knows what he would have gone on to achieve if he hadn’t flung himself so recklessly at Gary Charles, but I think people would have talked about him in the same breath as George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish,” Robson said.

The connection with Gascoigne is tenuous, at best, but you don’t always know what sets something off and I like the fact that Graham wanted to come home, that he pushed for it to happen in the knowledge that it might cause himself a ripple of difficulty. A story does not have to be set in stone, not yet, and an indiscretion about Sunderland in a Watford fanzine does not have to be his; I wish him a bucketload of goals.

It is difficult not to think about Gascoigne, because he still forms a frame of reference. As Ian Botham’s absence hung over England’s cricket team until the Ashes were claimed and a different standard set, Gascoigne is still the comparison we make; his potential and personality linger. When Jack Wilshere’s performance against Brazil is examined, it is for echoes of his predecessor.

Sir Bobby was a mentor and became a friend, but I’ve never met Gascoigne. I came close to it last May when the statue of Sir Bobby outside St James’, looking out towards the city and Co Durham, was unveiled. He was being interviewed there and I wanted to say something, about the memories he had given, but shied away. He looked shaky and wizened and I doubted he craved saccharine from a journalist.

As Gascoigne has diminished, he has continued to nourish my profession and I do not like that. This is not much of a blog and I apologise for it, because I have nothing to add about alcohol or refueling or treatment centres. I hope he gets well, but cannot begin to understand what responsibility lies with him or where others might have intervened. I’m not interested in casting blame. As I’ve made plain, tediously, I just remember him.

Gascoigne’s narrative is there, in black and white, and it cannot be altered, but I remember him from before then, shirt streaked in the same shades, sun-lamp tanned and shiny, barging across the grass, boisterous and bossy and delicate. I would give a lot to stop the clocks and plot a course back in time for one more of those moments when he hinted at unshackled possibility, but less for his sake. Him doing his job made me want to do mine.

Edited February 8, 2013 by StevieH

[Chicog]

Maybe it's just me, but peoples' memories of him seem to describe a different player to the one I remember. Great player, yes, but worthy of mention in the same breath as Best or Charlton? No chance.

[smokie36]

Maybe it's just me, but peoples' memories of him seem to describe a different player to the one I remember. Great player, yes, but worthy of mention in the same breath as Best or Charlton? No chance.

Blimey....are you older than carmine then?

[carmine]

Maybe it's just me, but peoples' memories of him seem to describe a different player to the one I remember. Great player, yes, but worthy of mention in the same breath as Best or Charlton? No chance.

I think you've missed the point. Its about what "might" have been. he was an unfullfilled talent, never the same after he did his knee ligaments. I think that was more Bobby Robson's point.

In '91 i went to almost every Spurs game, home and away and it was a privaledge cto watch him. I spoke to away fans outside the Antwerp pub who said that they choose our fixture to travel to basically to watch Gascoigne. Sometimes he almost single handedly won us games. Adored by his teammates and the fans for his genius but also for his human side because he was always a normal bloke that just happened to be a marvelous footballer.

he is still adored by Spurs fans to this day

[Chicog]

Maybe it's just me, but peoples' memories of him seem to describe a different player to the one I remember. Great player, yes, but worthy of mention in the same breath as Best or Charlton? No chance.

I think you've missed the point. Its about what "might" have been. he was an unfullfilled talent, never the same after he did his knee ligaments. I think that was more Bobby Robson's point.

In '91 i went to almost every Spurs game, home and away and it was a privaledge cto watch him. I spoke to away fans outside the Antwerp pub who said that they choose our fixture to travel to basically to watch Gascoigne. Sometimes he almost single handedly won us games. Adored by his teammates and the fans for his genius but also for his human side because he was always a normal bloke that just happened to be a marvelous footballer.

he is still adored by Spurs fans to this day

Yes, but then they aren't very bright, are they?

[carmine]

Maybe it's just me, but peoples' memories of him seem to describe a different player to the one I remember. Great player, yes, but worthy of mention in the same breath as Best or Charlton? No chance.

I think you've missed the point. Its about what "might" have been. he was an unfullfilled talent, never the same after he did his knee ligaments. I think that was more Bobby Robson's point.

In '91 i went to almost every Spurs game, home and away and it was a privaledge cto watch him. I spoke to away fans outside the Antwerp pub who said that they choose our fixture to travel to basically to watch Gascoigne. Sometimes he almost single handedly won us games. Adored by his teammates and the fans for his genius but also for his human side because he was always a normal bloke that just happened to be a marvelous footballer.

he is still adored by Spurs fans to this day

Yes, but then they aren't very bright, are they?

take a day off, you might not sound so tedious

So who have LeArse got to shout about...the romford Pele himself, ginger <deleted> Ray Palour. Actually you do take the biscuit for the biggest mincer of a coach

[Chicog]

So who have LeArse got to shout about...the romford Pele himself, ginger <deleted> Ray Palour. Actually you do take the biscuit for the biggest mincer of a coach

Thanks for proving my point.

they aren't very bright, are they?

[MrRed]

fark me the potato boys are really getting a hammering on here aren't they and they are that thick they keep coming back for more.That pic speaks volumes!

[NoshowJones]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

How can a wife beater be a nice guy? People I know who have met him said he was a gentleman, but he did beat his wife when he was at Rangers, and that is fact. There is never an excuse for hitting women, whether it's through drink or not.

[carmine]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

How can a wife beater be a nice guy? People I know who have met him said he was a gentleman, but he did beat his wife when he was at Rangers, and that is fact. There is never an excuse for hitting women, whether it's through drink or not.

I don't really think this thread needs to go down this route. The blokes got bipolar disorder, he's also has OCD and is an alcoholic with suicidal tendancies.

No, i agree, theres no excuse for beating a woman even if she's a money grabbing adulterer but try to look at the bigger picture. He has severe mental illness.

[MrRed]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

How can a wife beater be a nice guy? People I know who have met him said he was a gentleman, but he did beat his wife when he was at Rangers, and that is fact. There is never an excuse for hitting women, whether it's through drink or not.

I don't really think this thread needs to go down this route. The blokes got bipolar disorder, he's also has OCD and is an alcoholic with suicidal tendancies.

No, i agree, theres no excuse for beating a woman even if she's a money grabbing adulterer but try to look at the bigger picture. He has severe mental illness.

When he was good he was good though.

[NoshowJones]

Whenever you hear news about Gazza these days its nearly always about his continued decline. Very sad. He's a nice guy but its difficult to see a happy ending.

How can a wife beater be a nice guy? People I know who have met him said he was a gentleman, but he did beat his wife when he was at Rangers, and that is fact. There is never an excuse for hitting women, whether it's through drink or not.

I don't really think this thread needs to go down this route. The blokes got bipolar disorder, he's also has OCD and is an alcoholic with suicidal tendancies.

No, i agree, theres no excuse for beating a woman even if she's a money grabbing adulterer but try to look at the bigger picture. He has severe mental illness.

When he was good he was good though.

Yes he was, but he never bothered Celtic that much.