Just saw on the news that he was arrested last night and detained under the mental health act- how sad, even though he played for barcode united he was a truly gifted footballer "flawed genius" is the phrase i think.
I read the article on the BBC. Saw him play at Bramall Lane a couple of times. Very gifted player and sad to see him this way.
Football? Genius? Sorry, I don't see any way of connecting the two... Poor old Gascoigne. So much dosh, so little brain.
Just because you may not be a lover of the beautiful game doesnt mean you have to belittle an obviously troubled person, he is quite an intelligent person but his childish sense of humour makes him an easy target for people to ridicule.
If he hadn't been so talented at the so-called beautiful so-called game, then he probably wouldn't have had the cash and adulation thrown at him at an age when he obviously couldn't handle it. He probably wouldn't have then got the kicking in the popular press that he did, or suffered the breakdown that he did. He might also have been left to get on with rebuilding his life. Football is not beautiful or a game. It is a sickening spectacle of obscene wealth, on- and off-pitch violence, cheating, blackguardry and over-indulgence. It is poisoning our public life.
Paul Gascoigne's life is a tragedy and to use this latest tragic event as an excuse to air your petty little prejudices about football is shameful.
I may or may not love the "beautiful game"; I didn't say. However, genius is not any part of it. Mozart was a genius. Rembrandt was a genius. Einstein was a genius. None of them played football, as far as I know. And being "troubled" never disqualified anybody from being foolish.
Football caused the chaos in his life. The connection is perfectly valid, even if beyond you. Soapbox alert.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/10/21/is_having_a_silly_name_an_adva.html Mozart and Wagner did play football so there
Well I really don't care for football and I think the remuneration is obscene. That said I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who finds themselves in mental crisis. A couple of years back I found myself being responsible for someone who had to be hospitalised several times and it was no laughing matter. So I hope Gazza gets better, but I'm aware of a lot of other people who haven't had his opportunities and won't have a group of rich/influential friends to help them out.
