Gazza

Superb - an amazing story about football, fame and the corrosive power of celebrity. Paul Gascoigne was incredible as both a player and a person; but what happened to him and what he did was jaw dropping. The film starts as a sporting story and turns into something gripping and terrifying, a crazy film and a cautionary dark tale about the media and life under the spotlight. The archive is also amazing, on par with SENNA and AMY.

You have to feel for Paul Gascoigne after watching this new 2 part retrospective. He was the nation's darling and then allowed himself to be shamefully misadvised, truly shafted and ultimately destroyed. What came first, the chicken or the egg? He clearly enjoyed being one of the lads and having a good old drink, but the mistreatment by his confidants and the constant hounding of the press, certainly drove him to excess which proved to be his downfall. We should not lose sight of what a great player Paul was, how he did his best on the field to help his country and his clubs to win. Having said all that, you can hardly blame England boss Glenn Hoddle for leaving him out of the 1998 world cup squad. On the eve of the squad announcement, the players were given explicit instructions to relax, have a couple of beers and be in bed by midnight. Gazza, being Gazza, chose to ignore these instructions and got himself drunk on pina coladas, draped across the bar piano, just as the boss walked in. Hoddle had no choice. A sobering documentary with a final, lingering shot of the man himself today, which certainly brought a tear to my eye.

What we see is an honest family driven young footballer, who's girlfriend was owned by press and a weekly story was just part of his life. We would never know how far he could have gone had he had right manager and structure to brush off the attention from press. He did still prove himself by playing abroad and seemed like drink was not the only drug of choice as he was destructive by nature. I have more respect for him after seeing this and we should not judge him as opportunities were missed and the whole England squad never stuck up for him. They were as much to blame as they joined in on drinking games. He will inspire future footballers and that legacy can never be taken away.

It's that simple for me. Gazza was a victim of tabloid media and being a lad. I've no doubt that he'd have been fine if the media didn't chase him 24/7. He was an exceptional talent but a soft old soul with an issue with knowing when to quit drinking on a night out. Much like most men his age. I've been a victim of this..... I still am sometimes. It's a decent documentary with great career highlights. It all came flooding back to me just how disgusting and ruthless the tabloids were (and still are) at that time. Nearing the end of Gazza's career you can see Beckham came in. He was nowhere near as talented but better looking and he married a Spice Girl. No footballer surfed the tabloid waves like David & Victoria. They owned it. Back to Gazza & this documentary. It feels to me like he was in a similar boat as George Best. Insanely gifted and talented but his off-pitch antics eventually destroyed his on-pitch genius. His love for Sheryl seemed to be a massive part of his downfall also. Not to mention the spawn of Satan, Rebekah Brooks, the then News of the World deputy editor (for the most part), Phone hacking scandal anyone? Anyway, Paul was a troubled old soul who was crapped on more times than a public toilet. This is well worth a watch for those familiar with Premier League football (soccer to you Americans) in the 90's or even fans of Newcastle United, Spurs, Lazio, etc.... Well worth a watch and I'll likely watch it again, at least 2-3 times.

It's that simple for me. Gazza was a victim of tabloid media and being a lad. I've no doubt that he'd have been fine if the media didn't chase him 24/7. He was an exceptional talent but a soft old soul with an issue with knowing when to quit drinking on a night out. Much like most men his age. I've been a victim of this..... I still am sometimes. It's a decent documentary with great career highlights. It all came flooding back to me just how disgusting and ruthless the tabloids were (and still are) at that time. Nearing the end of Gazza's career you can see Beckham came in. He was nowhere near as talented but better looking and he married a Spice Girl. No footballer surfed the tabloid waves like David & Victoria. They owned it. Back to Gazza & this documentary. It feels to me like he was in a similar boat as George Best. Insanely gifted and talented but his off-pitch antics eventually destroyed his on-pitch genius. His love for Sheryl seemed to be a massive part of his downfall also. Not to mention the spawn of Satan, Rebekah Brooks, the then News of the World deputy editor (for the most part), Phone hacking scandal anyone? Anyway, Paul was a troubled old soul who was crapped on more times than a public toilet. This is well worth a watch for those familiar with Premier League football (soccer to you Americans) in the 90's or even fans of Newcastle United, Spurs, Lazio, etc.... Well worth a watch and I'll likely watch it again, at least 2-3 times.

You have to feel for Paul Gascoigne after watching this new 2 part retrospective. He was the nation's darling and then allowed himself to be shamefully misadvised, truly shafted and ultimately destroyed. What came first, the chicken or the egg? He clearly enjoyed being one of the lads and having a good old drink, but the mistreatment by his confidants and the constant hounding of the press, certainly drove him to excess which proved to be his downfall. We should not lose sight of what a great player Paul was, how he did his best on the field to help his country and his clubs to win. Having said all that, you can hardly blame England boss Glenn Hoddle for leaving him out of the 1998 world cup squad. On the eve of the squad announcement, the players were given explicit instructions to relax, have a couple of beers and be in bed by midnight. Gazza, being Gazza, chose to ignore these instructions and got himself drunk on pina coladas, draped across the bar piano, just as the boss walked in. Hoddle had no choice. A sobering documentary with a final, lingering shot of the man himself today, which certainly brought a tear to my eye.