I’ve seen some sick things in my time, but the jackals manipulating Paul Gascoigne have to be stopped before a broken man dies.
There is so much I want to write about this, so much of this seedy, maggot infested side of ‘show business’ I want to share with you but I could do without being sued. So I’ll stick to what’s in the public domain. There’s more than enough out there already for you to make up your own minds about what’s right and what’s wrong.
As you will know by now, the legend turned tragedy that is Paul Gascoigne has hit the headlines again. It’s difficult to keep absolutely up to speed with the life and times of Gazza. You would have thought that the Raul Moat business might have been a catalyst of some sort. That someone would have stepped out of the shadows and tried to help the man.
You can’t make Paul do anything he doesn’t want to because he’s very ill. But you can control the way that you deal with Paul. For example, you can’t make him stop drinking. But you can not offer to buy him pint. You can’t make him look after himself, but you can refuse to play a part in that which might cause him harm. This won’t wave a magic wand, but it reduces the bad options that are available to him. It might not appear much, but having scruples isn’t a big, look at me, showy affair.
In principle the decision to get Gazza working was a probably not a bad one. Get some genuine purpose into his life again. Rekindle some flames from his first and perhaps only true love, football. Show him that despite all the madness he was still admired, respected and loved. To an emotionally charged character like Paul, there would be a lot of potentially good things to be taken from getting out there and being Paul Gascoigne again. Not as some soaked drunk in a pool hall, but a man holding court in a corporate environment.
Sadly greed doesn’t give a damn about people. Greed throws people into a big juicer. Squishes them, slurps the gloop, burps and naffs off in search of another body.
Here’s some footage of the latest attempt to get Paul back out and working. You will see Paul paraded as a demented wreck in public. It’s easy to point the finger after the event, especially when trying to control a loose cannon like Paul.
But that is not only no excuse, it actually makes matters worse as the potential for disaster was always going to outweigh the potential for success. This was on the cards. Not a surprise. The compere could clearly see the state Paul was in, yet made the incredibly stupid and ultimately dreadful decision to continue.
To let him go out on stage in such a condition is unforgivable. Paul was shaking like he had Parkinson’s and at 2.40 on the tape, the compere holds Paul’s arm to lesson the shaking. How kind. How caring.
When he came on he was shaking and the reaction of the people I was sitting with was that he should not have been allowed to appear.
There was no anger, just a great deal of sympathy for him. He did use bad language and that was embarrassing. He was on stage for about 12 minutes and answered some questions.”
Audience member, Park Inn Hotel Northampton
The moment the compere saw the condition Paul was in and decided to get him helped up onto the stage was the very instant Paul was exploited. This must be the very last time this can happen. Don’t buy Paul a pint, don’t sell Paul beer and whatever you do, don’t pay to watch a man in this much trouble be humiliated, ever again.
Damn right H, so sad to watch him like that, absolute tragedy. I know he has an illness & should have been helped out a long long time ago, but it beggars belief how he has been allowed to fall by the wayside to this extent. Why wasn’t he offered a coaching role at a top club once he retired, surely that would of helped him out no end ?
using him to get people to look at your 2 bob site is as bad as the people your trying to blame!!!
See my post below you stupid twot.
If you think highlighting his plight is a hit-inducing tactic you are a sad git who misses the whole point of human feeling and a sympathy for Gazza from fans of old.
Do us all a favour and leave this site for good.
harry hater it was a cold and meaningless existence without you. Do drop by more often.
Wow, you really are as stupid as your mis-spelled name suggests… how about doing a little bit less “hating” and a bit more of the positive things in life??
No, I thought not…
You are a sick phuk. Using an opportunity to show sympathy for another human being, and one who’s plight maybe sadder still than others, similar simply by virtue of the how far poor Paul Gascoigne is from the man he was and deserved to become, is simply appalling; to use that opportunity to scorn another beggars belief and defies description.
I hope your mother has other children to console her; I feel sorry for her for the time she must waste wondering where she went wrong with you.
What ever happened in your life to turn into such a sorry excuse for a human being?
I hope you get better, I really do.
This man cannot help himself but the parasites must be stopped from using him for their own ends.
Yes Harry H. It was sickening I totally agree with you. He became a monkey and his master…. sorry but it was taking advantage of an ill person to ludicrous proportions…what a disgrace.
George Best had his family and many friends visiting him at his bedside. His doctor Prof. Williams oversaw his liver transplant… I used to go to his dept occasionally before working overseas … his team ( UCH and Cromwell) were specialists in their field.
Even so in the 3 years post-transplant continued over-drinking led to death. I think the PFA involvement and concern for Paul Gascoigne is good, but friends, family and the best specialist treatment seem irrelevant if he cannot combat his acute problems in his own mind.
There seem to be so many concerns on social media about Gazza, and there are many people like him but for other problems , so it would be great if there were to be found a different approach that actually works. COYS! And xxx his manager!
I attended Georges Funeral a few years ago, in fact i was at the Funeral of a well known Sports Journalist earlier today where i met PJ and many other ex-footballers whom i knew, i do not want to be attending Gazza’s in the near future and i hope he can get the assistance needed.
This in The Times today…written byTony Evans – Football Editor.
“It is sad to see Paul Gascoigne in such a troubled state but all the calls for football to help him out are misguided. Many attempts have been made to give Gascoigne a leg up and a purpose in life. He has failed to take advantage of any and let down most of the people who offered a helping hand. That includes everyone from the FA to his former clubs. The bottom line is that you can’t help those who don’t want to be helped. Don’t expect a happy ending.”
So there you have it.
A point of view which condemns all needy souls to the waste bin of our tawdry, sordid world of sensationalism and privacy busting media-run lies.
I find his point of view appalling and I will certainly not by another copy of the rag.
Gazza is no longer a footballer. He’s not a celbrity anymore. He is an alcoholic member of the public. No more than that and as such he needs as much help as the ladies and gents outside Victoria Station.
That article would not have been written for anyone else othe than Gazza.
He has been used, abused and now consigned to the skip by a hack who probably has ex-colleagues in the same mess – journalism has its own reputation, after all.
There but for the grace…
The Times is run by Murdoch which speaks volumes.
It’s not just the Murdoch press.
It’s about the media in general.
Boost them up and then watch & report on the decline.
I can’t see what was wrong with the Times article.
@Bruxie 2.41
I understand where you are coming from, but how do you help someone who won’t help themselves.
In my time, I have come across a a few families where there is an addict amongst them, and in some cases, they have adopted a “tough love” approach. Sometimes it has worked and sometimes not, but in all the cases where it did work, the addict always said the same sort of thing: “It was because my familiy supported me that I was able to remain addicted for so long”, but when they refused to help, I could see the damage that I had dome to myself and them, I realised I needed to get better, but I knew it had to start with me helping myself”
My point is that the media, having built him up, are now abandoning the person that they created.
I don’t think Gazza has a family anymore.
As h says…the exploitation has to stop.
If you were invited to go to an event like this…would you go?
No. Because you are a decent sort.
I generally have a pretty low opinion of the press at the best of times.
In today’s climate, you can expect one tabloid to give him a few quid so they can photograph lying in a gutter, while another will run a “spoiler” as to how their competitor, peeved at not getting the story, will tell how the rival got him drunk.
Good article, but the inclusion of a gawkish video negates your point.
It doesn’t negate anything. It serves to seal the fate of the men that lifted him onto the stage.
I just feel that anyone who truly wanted to support Gazza in his plight would have nothing to do with that video. Watching it serves no positive purpose.
You say it highlights those who put him there, but I fail to see how. It’s just Gazza in the video isn’t it?
Anyway your article was superb, but I think the video tarnishes it. Nobody who cares about him wants to see it.
I think you have to see the video to understand the point. This was not some “falling down drunk, aren’t I a funny boy” video. This was a man who is seriously ill being put on a stage for the amusement of the public.
I had seen enough after less than a minute, and never saw the end but I think that if the trailer trash that appear on Jeremy Kyle (himself an addict) were treated like this, the IBA would be down on Kyle like a ton of bricks.
I don’t think it negates the point, I think it illustrates the point…
You didn’t have to view it, HH didn’t suggest it was mandatory that you do…I chose not to, I couldn’t bring myself to click on the play button preferring to remember him in a SPURS shirt destroying our neighbours in a FA Cup Semi.
He does and will always will need outside help to cope as the demons are in control, and filthy people around him will take advantage, and those that don’t understand will advise him to snap out of it, it is the way of the sick world in which we live.
I agree that having him on stage in that state was madness, but the fact remains Paul MUST HELP HIMSELF!!!
After all this is a grown-man, who is fully capable of understanding the ramifications of his actions.
Gazza is NOT the only alcoholic to ever existed. I’m sure he has been offered help many times in the past, but others helping him will only get him so far.
Only when Paul REALISES he has hit rock-bottom, and is WILLING to change (old habits/patterns), will he get the kind of ‘help’ he really needs!
You have no idea what is involved with dealing with alcoholism.
The point is…you cannot help yourself.
You need help from those around you.
You come across as one of htose opinionated gits who cross to the other side of the road if you see a homeless person.
You and Tony Evans could work together.
*laughs* It, infact, was only yesterday when I stopped to ask a homeless man if he wanted something from the shop I was about to enter. I proposed he could have ANYTHING he wanted. He replied’ can you get me a can’. So I did.
It is never my WILL to go around judging people. I have little interest in what others CHOOSE to do with their lives. I am simply of the opinion that we ALL have a choice.
Whether that choice is EASY or NOT, or made CONSCIOUSLY or SUB-CONSCIOUSLY, is another question completely ,my friend.
Ps. it appears that it is YOU that carries the judgement of the opinionated fool! For how is it possible for you to have come to such a misguided conclusion about me otherwise otherwise?
I need not know who Tony Evans Is to understand that we could BOTH evolve in eachothers presence
Charlie Chan was inarguably one of the world’s greatest detectives. And what did he say to his number one son?
“Conversation, like television set on honeymoon.
Unnecessary.”
Ramos43: are you actually proposing that you ask the patient to write the prescription?
Like I said my friend, ALL the prescriptions in the world won’t help Paul, unless Paul himself is committed to the idea of change.
When somebody is REALLY willing to achieve a feat, and they know the way to go about reaching their goal, they become capable of great things.
Cobblers.
at what stage does an individual have to take ownership of his own life?
Paul was an incredibly gifted footballer who was richly rewarded for his talents.He has blown millions of pounds,had a fantastic life available to him yet beat his wife and had offers of help thrown back at the people who love him. He choose to go on benders with Five bellies and that twonk Evans,nobody told him too ,he decided to do it He decides to attend detox clinics then goes to Tescos for cans of Stella……..,he has had offers of help from all walks of society yet he continues to abuse himself and his position. I feel incredibly sorry for him and feel for him and those close to him but…….there are other unfortunates less famous than he who genuinely want and need help yet are ignored and even despised ,so why should he continue to take precedence over them just because he was once a great footballer who literally pissed his life away
He doesn’t take precedence.
He is human. Blessed with skills to get him into the public eye.
If not for his football skills he’d probably be one of those that you mention and describe as unfortunate.
The fact that he’s in the public eye is irrelevant.
He is what he is…and probably always has been.
I freely admit i do not understand addiction,addiction of any kind wether drinks drugs,gambling,computer games whatever.I have been lucky enough in life to be able make rational decisions that affect me and mine and i truly do not comprehend why or how an individual can be so obsessed with any one thing as to destroy his/her life and the people around them.The deabate concerning Gazza is because he is Gazza i.e in the public eye so hardly an irrelevencein the context of this discussion.
Being “human” isnt an excuse or a reason for weakness.Being “human” should distinguish us from other animals in as much as we have freedom of thought and the power in our brain to make rational decisions.
Lucky you.
You have no empathy.
You cannot understand or acknowledge that some people are cursed with a gene that destroys them.
How can you publicise your complete ignorance on a blog?
I question your judgement and sincerely hope you are not in a management position or have family – whether your kids marry them or not,
I certainly have no empathy with you thats for sure!! If you read my comments and understand them before a vitriolic attack you would see that I wrote that i do not understand addiction.The other points were an opinion,and like your opinion are only valid to those who choose to read and agree or disagree with it.
The subject was an open one for debate and just because I take a different stance to you does not mean I am any more right or wrong than you,just have differing views.
Attacking the writer and questioning judgement simply because they disagree with your own viewpoint is surely not what the site is for,there are several comments on here that I wholeheartedly disagree with but the contributors have an absolute right to express themselves thats what a free society is about.They sometimes desrve a comment or a reply but never a personal attack on either themselves or their children.
Its horrible to witness isnt it.
The problem for Paul is that He has nothing to replace football in his life that gives him those massive highs and I guess booze is a poor substitute.
Some people arnt born to live to an old age and I fear Paul is one of them. He’s was a rock’n'roll star in his own world but no longer.
I think the only possible way He can get meaning into his life is to help others in some way charitable way but that may not be enough. What makes it especially difficult is the oily creatures and so called mates around him who prevent Paul cleaning up his owen act first.
H
You won’t get many posts on here today.
People will read it and then become ostriches.
There’s a few already who have ventured out and typified society’s overall blinkered approach to addiction.
Well done for highlighting this and stimulating at least some thought.
This case, though is about the exploitation of Gazza – not the addiction.
It hasn’t got anything to do with how much money Gazza has had or has wasted.
It’s about the bastards who ride on the coat tails.
Addiction is an illness, a disease. Certain ‘rational’ individuals can’t even grasp that simple concept.
Well done H & well done Brux.
Keep fighting Paul, there are some of us out here that will never give up on you and others like you who are suffering.
This is the first time in a very long time that I’ve sat and watched him in this state. It’s usually far too much to bare and I can’t stand to see him like it.
Maybe this is the problem though. Maybe the general consensus is to ‘look away’ and ignore the fact that he needs serious and prolonged medical and psychological treatment?
I have almost zero understanding of alcohol abuse both long and short term effects but I imagine the damage he’s done to himself is almost irreparable by now. There are permanent and debilitating conditions that require lifetime custodial care. Not the type of thing your mum or children could provide, professionals that costs a lot of money. These public appearances seem to be the only way for him to earn money to pay for any treatment.
This is a tragic story and in the nature of such, you can chose to witness the tragic conclusion or remove yourself from it all together.
I chose the latter because I can’t stand to see it.
It’s not just Gazza, though Brizzle.
There are innumerable people like Gazza.
We cannot ignore them.
Society needs to understand the illness. And it is an illness.
Exploitation of an alcoholic does, though, sound disturbing.
I do know how you feel, though.
An emoticon seems frivolous.
Have to disagree. There’s only one Gazza.
But yeah all jokes aside people fall through the cracks every day and I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to fix them all. All I know is that for people who suffer with drug/alcohol abuse to the extent that Gazza does they need constant and un-relenting care and there doesn’t seem to be a charity or organisation that can facilitate this. Especially in the scenario that he doesn’t want to stop. If a man is going to kill himself then thats exactly what he’s going to do. I just don’t want to watch him do it.
We live in a world of reality TV and short attention spans.
I have a very good understanding of alcohol abuse,and the fact remains (which most people are not grasping) any alcoholic has to want help before it is given.An alcoholic can not be sectioned just because he is an alcoholic.
HH you have to turn up at the doctors to get a prescription.
You’re right. At the end of the day an addict cannot stop unless he/she wants to. The chances of successfully beating addiction are enhanced if you are helped and supported by friends & family. The chances of an addict going to see a GP to get a prescription on their own are slim- even if they realise deep down that’s exactly what they need to do to help them onto the road to recovery- that’s what addiction does, and that’s where the help and support comes in.
Were it that simple, that you could just take a pill and you would be cured.
I have just quit smoking after nearly fifty years. I no longer have the physical craving, but I think about a cig, 20-30 times a day. The alcoholic and the junkie do exactly the same even after the have stopped.
Who said it was simple?
The general overall point i was trying to make is that you never give up on people. Never.
(apart from Arse*al fans- they’re beyond help).
Congrats on packing up the fags- been there myself.
Profuse apologies.
I was not trying to trash your comment when I made the “simple” remark. My real point was that in my own limited way, I do understand what is involved in recovery from addictiion
I was ten months on Champix as well as the last four months with patches as well, and the thing that I learned was that I was able to beat the prob with a bit of help, for which there was a pill, and most importantly,through behaviour modification.
No need to apologise Dub.
Behaviour modification and recognising trigger mechanisms was the hardest part for me to get my head around. More importantly than that was the moral support i got from friends & family, but different techniques work for different people (sometimes just slight variations on the same technique)- at the end of the day the most important thing is it worked.
I just really do hope something, anything finally works for Gazza, for his sake more than anybody elses.
Personally I don’t feel sorry for him although it is sad,in my own life I have experienced it through my family,does his son care if he was good at football? Probably not he just wants a dad. Not many people in his situation will be offered as much help or offered as much temptation by “friends” but for me I feel more sorry for his family & people around him who have suffered who will not receive offers of help as they weren’t talented footballers who people want a piece of or offer unconditional help. A great footballer yes but he’s also apart from that just a man who’s behaviour to himself & others doesn’t excuse . If I was the same as him had made people around me suffer with acts of drug or alcohol fueled aggression but not a footballer would people judge me like “good old gazza” ? I recognize he has mental issues which aren’t his fault but still don’t feel sorry for him
On Saturday if you wish to clap for him that’s your choice but it’s not for me it crosses moral lines for me that would disrespect my beliefs & family,if you wish to support someone who’s a wife beating drug & alcohol fueled monster because he was great for spurs & you feel you know him as a result that’s your choice
Can you send me a bullet point guide into “missing the bloody point”, please?
Of course there are other victims of alcoholism and other addictions.
And there are support groups for them, too, thankfully.
But when was the last time you saw them exposed to the public for money?
You mention beliefs.
Do they not extend to sympathy, forgiveness and/or affinity?
As I said earlier…there but for the grace…
Bruxie I do get the point raised by HH & I agree he has been exploited by the media,people who act in his interest & so called friends thank you for being so patronising preacher man
I simply don’t agree with many people today & over the weekend simply taking the view he was a good player he must be a good bloke. Yes he needs help I hope he gets it. Many of his friends have been slandered many have tried to help many have done him wrong. I was simply putting my view point across although meandering slightly but there are different angles to his story & people like him. I understand he is ill i understand manic depression I understand alcoholism I understand drug abuse I have a different view point to yours on this it’s a complicated matter of which no one has all the right answers but well done your obviously a superior human to me I trust the view from your ivory tower is beautiful this time of year
And you still don’t address the exploitation issue.
I’m by no means in an ivory tower. And I’m no preaching.
But there you go again in your assumptions. And if you read my posts again…I’m not patronising.
In fact you are.
I really hope that you do not have to face this…or anything
similar in your future.
Have a nice life.
Huh? I agree he’s been exploited & it’s wrong? I’ve only read your replies to me,fair play you don’t agree with my stand point taken from my life experience although I’ve taken yours
Bruxie,
Can I just say, speaking as one who has had an alcoholic sister die in his arms from lung cancer and who has himself entertained the bottle through a very long and (relatively) distinguished military career, that your posts give me some hope that there are at least some people that understand the hell that Gazza is in.
And it is Hell – I remember being in a significant military HQ a decade or so ago when an officer who was known (and, amazingly, accepted) to be a total drunk was given the task of briefing a roomful of people. It wasn’t very far at all from that Gazza video and frankly I’ve never, ever, been so ashamed:
- for him
- for the person that tasked him that should have known better
- and for us who watched and cringed when we should have intervened.
Ever since then I’ve never knowingly put somebody into a situation that I thought they couldn’t handle.
Gazza is of course incapable of making a rational decision about whether to pick up a pint – even when sober. Therefore he needs long term help, unless you simply believe that such people should be allowed to die in the gutter.
I would argue that those who do think that suffer from a worse sickness than he does, as do the scum who exploit his illness and those of others.
I don’t know what the answer is, on the one hand i see a man so ill that he cannot help himself being taken advantage by others for their own amusement, on the other a man who has been given support time and again but the Light at the End of the Tunnel seems more distant with each passing year.
As a Society do we just give up on him, surely not.
One of the tragedies of alcohol is that if misused over a significant period it can permanently affect the brain and co-ordination wether you stop drinking or not( Wernekers/Korsokoffs disease).
I wish the man well.
This is sadness personified. So tragic to watch such a talented man heading towards what seems to be an inevitable ending.
Can this really be George Best all over again ? In 2013 ? Beggars belief.
I have no idea what the answer is and don’t profess to be an expert or even to begin to understand the condition, the addiction, or the impact on Paul, his family and friends and those who have tried and continue to try to help him.
I hope he can come through it I really do.
I grew up in an era when gazza hit his heights. We really were lucky to have him at spurs. What he gave us on the pitch deserves repaying and I hope there is someone who can help him through.
If he can get better, the FA could make good use of Paul to help the new breed of youngsters on £40,000+ pwk understand the pitfalls of fame. Sadly, the traps of fame and success are still there today. He deserves the chance to celebrate his former glories as well as celebrate his biggest victory in beating this terrible condition.
There’s only one Paul Gascoigne.
Yiddo.
Gazza is a hero of Spurs, a one of a kind whose character and exploits on and off the pitch have seldom not attracted attention. It’s sad to think that the parasitic nature of the gutter press feed off of people in such a state to sell papers or gain ratings.
What if Paul beats his demons? Will the same vultures rally round to offer an empathetic ear so that his story can be told for the greater good? if there is gold in it then yes but I feel that his being pulled around like a bloody freak show can only add to his condition and make things worse.
I just hope he finds the means and strength to pull through this, and that the vultures find something else to feed thier fetid little minds.
“Oh Gazza we love you”
He was also an England hero too. Not to detract from what has been written, but we are treating this as private mourning, when the whole country should be up arms about this.
No one who ever saw it will forget his tears when he realised he was not going to be able to play in the World Cup Final, and apart from the usual arseholes who can never see any good in anything or anyone, all our hearts when out to him.
Well said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/04/paul-gascoigne-hospital-addiction-treatment
Fingers crossed.
HH, you have communicated what most sane people think. This world is full of rats in many walks of life. I don’t know the answer to rid him of these demons but for some dickheads on this site to criticise you for posting this shows what selfish, uncaring rats they are.
This is a Spurs blog, Gazza is a Spurs legend, part of our family, it makes me sick that some folk need to see the worse in you posting a very well written piece which hits home.
I work in HS Kensington and can remember walking by the Cromwell Hospital in my lunch break to see the vultures surrounding Calum Best when he informed them that his father died, very few were there to show sympathy, they were there to feed on the misfortune of a once great man.
I expect to be shot to pieces for this so please give your best shot.
Broke my heart watching that.
Today they say Paul went to America for treatment, because since this broke out, the press were outside his home like a pack of animals. How in the name of god, can one so ill and not coping with life, deal with a frenzy of baying journalists. A sane and fit person will end up ill with all that stress of being hounded outside your home and following your every move.
High time people in high places put an end to this, by making it illegal to hound people’s privacy.
Hope Paul gets well, and never will forget his kindness he showed my young daughter a few years ago when we saw him at the bowling alleys at David lloyds in Enfield.