Paul Gascoigne on Soccer AM: Snubbing Man Utd and spotting Wayne Rooney
Saturday 22 August 2015 13:59, UK
Soccer AM welcomed a very special guest on Saturday morning as Paul Gascoigne joined Fenners and Helen in the studio.
The England football legend shared some anecdotes from his colourful career - including the gifts from Tottenham that prompted him to snub Manchester United in 1988, and why Wayne Rooney owes him £40.
Read on to catch up with some of Gazza's best stories on Sky Sports on Saturday morning...
GAZZA ON SNUBBING MAN UTD
First up, I spoke to Kenny Dalglish about going to Liverpool, but I could not understand a word he said. A Geordie speaking to a Scouser did not go down well.
Then I got the call from Sir Alex to go to Man United and I was chuffed. Sir Alex Ferguson was the reason why you'd go to Man United. He said: 'Can I go on holiday, knowing that I've signed you Gazza?' I said 'yeah, definitely'.
He went on holiday and I was driving to Old Trafford - and I went in the bookies and I was 6/1 to sign for Spurs. The phone went, and it was [former Tottenham chairman] Irving Scholar. He asked what I wanted in my contract and I asked for a nice house for my family. I rang my dad up and said 'Spurs have offered a house' and he said 'what are you waiting for?' Within five minutes, my dad had found a house - and said it had a garage.
I rang back and said my dad would like a car, a white BMW with a private reg on and they said 'consider it done'. By this time, I was going off the motorway to Spurs and panicking about letting Sir Alex down. The phone rang again and it was my sister. She said 'if mam's getting a house and dad's getting a car, I want a sunbed'. Irving said 'consider it done... just get here'. She got it!
GAZZA ON WAYNE ROONEY
Wayne Rooney, for years, has stood out. He's a great player and is one I like watching because he hates getting beat. He's not just a striker but works very hard for his team as well. He also owes me £40, so if he is watching I really want it back!
When I used to play for Everton, I used to watch the youth team play before we played. Colin Harvey at the time said 'watch this young kid.' He was 14 playing for the under-19s so I thought I'd stay and watch him for a little bit. They were getting beat 1-0 and he came on with 20 minutes to go and banged in two goals. They were incredible and I thought 'what a player... he's going to be good'.
After the game, I went in and said 'well done lads, I've got 40 quid spare. Is anyone going out tonight?' Wayne Rooney said 'I am', so I said 'here you go'. That's when I knew he was going to be brilliant. He's never given us the 40 quid back though... the interest is about £1.2m.
the ref came over and had a word with the linesman. He said 'Gazza, I'm not being funny, but did you take that corner with your hand?' I said 'yeah, it was a quick one...'
GAZZA ON NEWCASTLE
I popped in to see Steve McClaren recently and I also popped in to see the physio to see how much it would cost to get the bags under my eyes done... I actually did! I wished Steve McClaren well. I think he'll do well there.
GAZZA ON TAKING CORNERS WITH HIS HAND
One time at Glasgow Rangers, the ball was near the corner flag and I said to Brian Laudrup 'short one, quick one'. The defender came over and I got my hand on the ball and took the corner with my hand. The ball went over the guy and we nearly scored. The linesman was flagging like mad. I said 'sssh... don't tell the ref' and the ref came over and had a word with the linesman. He said 'Gazza, I'm not being funny, but did you take that corner with your hand?' I said 'yeah, it was a quick one...'
GAZZA ON NOT TAKING A PENALTY AT ITALIA 90
Bobby saw me in tears and put his arm around me and said 'look at the fans, you've done them proud. We can still get to the final.' I forgot we still had penalties. I was the third one to take a penalty but my head wasn't right and David Platt took mine, which gave him more publicity and made him an even better player.
It wasn't the fact I bottled it. I took two in Euro 96 and scored both of them, even though I mis-kicked the first one. I wish I'd helped Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce out. Chris Waddle's penalty was unbelievable. When we arrived back at Luton, the ball ended up there! But good on them, they both took it.
GAZZA ON HIS CAREER
If you have a look at what I achieved and bear in mind the operations - but I don't want to use them as an excuse - if you ask any manager, I played for or the players, I did the business, full stop. Even for England. If you look, I played 57 times and missed four years through injury. I was only beaten four times, but I was playing with great players as well. I wouldn't have changed my career for anything. I loved my career. I wish I'd maybe stayed an extra year at Tottenham or Rangers. There's a few things I would have wished, but I still loved my career.
GAZZA ON HIS HEALTH
I'm doing well and enjoying life in Bournemouth. Everything is all right. I'm doing a bit of fishing and a bit of golf. I should be in the British Open with my golf, I'm brilliant. I played the other week and parred seven and birdied two. The other birds I left until the night time...
