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Gazza struggles to avoid Best's mistakes
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-07 09:58
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Paul Gascoigne's sacking as a minor league manager
over his alleged drinking habits will revive fears, if not pity, for the
troubled former England favourite.
Gascoigne, who admitted last year he had even considered suicide as he
grappled with alcoholism, was back on tabloid front pages on Tuesday after the
booze apparently cost him his job at Kettering Town after 39 days.
Owner Imraan Ladak accused Gascoigne of drinking before, during and after the
club's matches and training sessions.
"He feels I should have done more - but I have had conversations with him he
can't remember because he was drunk," Ladak told BBC radio. Gascoigne countered
by saying he had drunk a double brandy before a recent match, but told Sky
Sports News: "Before it used to be four bottles of whisky. It's not any more."
Their highly-public spat was followed hours later by Gascoigne spending
Monday night at a police station following an alleged assault by the 38-year-old
in Liverpool. He was released on bail on Tuesday.
For the many fans who remember Gascoigne for his exuberant talent on the
pitch, the worrying aspect of his dismissal by a club playing two divisions
below the Football League will be the spectre of drink.
Coming just days after George Best, the greatest player to come out of the
British Isles, was buried in his native Belfast after a life racked by
alcoholism, the allegations take on an extra resonance.
Gascoigne's drinking has been blamed in the media for causing the break-up of
his marriage and sparked a string of lurid headlines ever since he was left out
of England's squad for the 1998 World Cup finals.
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