Terribly sad, but unsurprising news that Paul Gascoigne has been sectioned in order to ensure he recieves mental health treatment. Everyone is having their say but it's good old Gary Mabbutt who has driven to the heart of the issue with his plea for the "football family" to help Gascoigne.
When Gascoigne was finally forced to give up the game, it was like watching the Titanic slide silently passed in the bitter cold of the night. Personally, I have been amazed that this hasn't happened before now. It's all so predictable and you really have to hope that he gets the help he needs to get some genuine insight to how he should now look to lead his life and that the football family really can do something to help. He needs a proper role where he can be involved without feeling patronised or pitied. Maybe Kevin Keegan is best placed to help at Newcastle.
In the meantime, let's remember just how good he was. On his day he was completely unplayable; one particular game at Selhurst Park springs immediately to mind as well as at Wembley when he broke my heart after making Colin Hendry look a prize chump before smashing a the winner in the Euro 96 Championships.
I will never forget his appearance at the Den in an England B game. I had gone down hoping to see Paul Williams play and instead witnessed a Gascoigne classic. He was being given non-stop abuse from the Millwall locals who were out in force. A Mars bar was thrown at him from the Half-Way Line and we watched the midfeild dynamo swoop down to pick it up whilst in possession of the ball. He promptly unwrapped it and as he burst through the defensive back-lin, he took a bite and swaggered on. In ten seconds flat he had turned the situation and was given an enormous round of applause.
I really hope he manages to do something extraordinary at this point in his life, because he looks like following Frank Bruno down a dark and unhappy path if he can't.
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