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Paul John Gascoigne (born in Gateshead, England on
May 27, 1967) is an England|English football
(soccer)|football coach and former player, often
referred to by his nickname Gazza. His career has
included playing for Newcastle United
F.C.|Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur
F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur, S.S. Lazio|Lazio,
Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough and Rangers
F.C.|Rangers. He has also played 57 games for
England national football team|England. He is
currently manager of Portugal|Portugese club
Algarve United.

==Biography==

Gascoigne grew up in the Dunston area of Gateshead
and played for the local Redheugh Boys Club. He
signed for Newcastle United in 1983 as an
apprentice and made his first team debut in 1985.
In total, he made 99 appearances and scored 25
goals for Newcastle before being bought by
Tottenham Hotspur in 1988 for £2 million. Later
that year he made his first England appearance
when he came on as a substitute in a game against
Denmark national football team|Denmark.

===Rise ...===

In 1990 he was the BBC Sports Personality of the
Year after an emotional performance at Football
World Cup 1990|Italia 90, where he cried in the
semi final after receiving a booking which would
have seen him suspended for the final had England
national football team|England won. He also, prior
to Italia 90, made number 2 in the UK top 40 with
"Fog On The Tyne", a collaborative cover with
Lindisfarne (band)|Lindisfarne. An injury in the
1991 FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest
F.C.|Nottingham Forest prevented him from playing
for more than a year. As he recovered from injury,
he moved to Serie A side S.S. Lazio|Lazio for a
fee of £5.5 million. Beset by injury and
intrusive media interest, he had little success
playing for his new club side and returned to the
UK in June 1995 to play for Rangers F.C.|Rangers
in the Scottish Premier League. After scoring a
hat-trick in the final game of the season against
Aberdeen F.C.|Aberdeen, he was awarded the title
of Scottish Player of the Season.

During 1996 European Football Championship|Euro
96, Gascoigne enjoyed arguably the best form of
his life, scoring a spectacular goal against
Scotland national football team|Scotland and
coming within an inch of tapping in a goal from
Steve McManaman's cross against Germany national
football team|Germany in the team's ill-fated and
emotionally charged semi final, where Gazza shed
tears again after England national football
team|England lost on penalties.

===... and fall===

Problems with form, injury and discipline saw him
omitted from the Football World Cup 1998|France 98
squad by coach Glenn Hoddle, Gascoigne was never
to play for his country again. For more on this
interesting scandal, see Gazzagate.

He had joined Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough in
1998 but continuing problems with drink led to him
being released from his contract. Gascoigne then
joined Everton F.C.|Everton and after a period of
rehabilitation from his now acknowledged problem
with alcoholism, he moved on to Burnley
F.C.|Burnley. In 2002, Gascogine went on trial
with US club D.C. United, but failed to win a
contract. He then joined China|Chinese club Gansu
Tianma, but failed to to find his earlier form,
and left after playing just four games.

On 30 July 2004, he signed a deal to become
player-coach for Football League Two club Boston
United F.C.|Boston United. After leading the club
for 11 games he left on 5 October 2004 to begin a
football coaching course. He made five appearances
for the club but didn't score any goals.

In October 2004, he announced that he wanted to
change his name, and later told a television
audience that he wanted to be called "G8". He said
he wanted to do this because "it sounds a bit like
great, well it does with my Geordie accent".
Gascoigne is estranged from his wife Sheryl
Gascoigne who suffered domestic abuse from
Gascoigne and they have a son, Regan.

In 2005, he made an emotional TV appearance on a
BBC One program about ex-footballers. Speaking to
Scotland|Scottish ex-footballer Alan Hansen, he
talked about the problems he's had and how he's
had to cope with not being the player he used to
be. He also mentioned he was determined to get
back into the game by obtaining the proper
coaching badges needed to manage a team.

In July 2005, he became the coach of the recently
founded Portuguese team Algarve United.

==Career statistics==
Going into the 2004-05 in English football|2004/05
season, Gascoigne scored a total of 110 goals in
457 appearances for the 8 clubs he played for. At
an international level, he played 57 times for
England and scored 10 goals.

{| cellpadding="3"
|-
!Years
!Club
!Appearances
!Goals
|-
|1984-1988
|Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United
|95||25
|-
|1988-1992
|Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur
|111||33
|-
|1992-1995
|S.S. Lazio|Lazio
|41||6
|-
|1995-1998
|Rangers F.C.|Rangers
|92||39
|-
|1998-2000
|Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough
|44||4
|-
|2000-2002
|Everton F.C.|Everton
|24|| 1
|-
|2002
|Burnley F.C.|Burnley
|4||0
|-
|2003
|Gansu Tianma
|4||2
|-
|2004-2005
|Boston United F.C.|Boston United
|5||0
|}

start box
succession box|title=PFA Young Player of the
Year|before=Tony Adams (footballer)|Tony Adams
|after=Paul Merson|years=1988
succession box|title=BBC Sports Personality of the
Year|before=Nick Faldo |after=Liz
McColgan|years=1990
succession box|title=Scottish Football Writers'
Association|Scottish Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year|before=Brian Laudrup
|after=Brian Laudrup|years=1996
succession box|title=Scottish PFA Players' Player
of the Year|before=Brian Laudrup |after=Paolo Di
Canio|years=1996
end box