Paul Gascoigne

Paul Gascoigne (born in Gateshead, England on May 27, 1967) is an English football player. He is nicknamed "Gazza".

His career included playing for Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, and Glasgow Rangers. He has also played for the English national football team.

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.

In 1990, he was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

An injury in the 1991 FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest prevented him from playing for more than a year. As he recovered from injury, he moved to Lazio, Italy for a fee of £5.5 million. Beset by injury and intrusive media interest, he saw little playing success for his club side and returned to the UK in June 1995 to play for Glasgow Rangers in Scottish Premier League. After scoring a hat trick in the final game of season against Aberdeen, he was awarded the title of Scottish Player of the Season.

Further problems with injury and discipline led him to join Middlesbrough in 1998. Continuing problems with drink led to him being released from his contract. Gascoigne then joined Everton and after a period of rehabilitation from his now acknowledged problem with alcoholism, he moved on to Burnley. Subsequent spells in China and the USA have failed to allow the player to find his earlier form.

Career statistics

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.

Year	Club	Appearances	Goals
1984 -1988	Newcastle United	95	25
1988-1992	Tottenham Hotspur	111	33
1992-1995	Lazio	41	6
1995-1998	Glasgow Rangers	92	39
1998-2000	Middlesbrough	44	4
2000-2002	Everton	24	1
2002	Burnley	4	0
2003	Gansu Tianma	4	2