You have to feel for Paul Gascoigne after watching this new 2 part retrospective. He was the nation's darling and then allowed himself to be shamefully misadvised, truly shafted and ultimately destroyed. What came first, the chicken or the egg? He clearly enjoyed being one of the lads and having a good old drink, but the mistreatment by his confidants and the constant hounding of the press, certainly drove him to excess which proved to be his downfall. We should not lose sight of what a great player Paul was, how he did his best on the field to help his country and his clubs to win.
Having said all that, you can hardly blame England boss Glenn Hoddle for leaving him out of the 1998 world cup squad. On the eve of the squad announcement, the players were given explicit instructions to relax, have a couple of beers and be in bed by midnight. Gazza, being Gazza, chose to ignore these instructions and got himself drunk on pina coladas, draped across the bar piano, just as the boss walked in. Hoddle had no choice.
A sobering documentary with a final, lingering shot of the man himself today, which certainly brought a tear to my eye.
Tingnan pa 
