Gazza snubbed Fergie and Old Trafford for the lure of Terry Venables and White Hart Lane. Spurs were a much bigger draw than Man U back in those days of the late 1980’s.
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Lineker and Gazza must have been a vibrant attacking pair.
Gazza has admitted to Ferguson since that it was a terrible mistake.
Manchester United had just finished a distant second to Liverpool in the summer of 1988. Tottenham had regressed by then after a very good 86/87 season in which they played some exceptional football.
Lineker was probably past peak at Spurs . He had lost a yard of pace after a hernia iirc
Spurs were paying massive wages then
As we’re Italian clubs. Probably used like a kipper by agents/hangers on
Losing a homesick Richard Gough to Glasgow Rangers early in the 1987/88 season was a huge blow to Spurs.
Spurs were far more successful in the 1980’s than Man U who won just the two FA Cups in 1983 and 1985. In the three seasons Gazza spent at Spurs, Spurs comfortably out-performed Man U finishing well ahead of Man U in the league in 1988/89 and 1989/90 and winning the FA Cup in 1991. @peddlerscross really needs to up his game here.
Pirlo is surely overrated no? There was a lovely style to his play which added to his myth.
The way I’d see is that Manchester United got fairly lucky in avoiding Gascoigne. Part of what made Gascoigne was his irrepressible personality. But he wasn’t suited to winning leagues, at least outside of the fairly easy Scottish League. His personality was suited to turning it on in cups and the odd major tournament. Short bursts.
In 1988 Manchester United, despite having finished second to Liverpool, were still a bit of a crisis club and the following two seasons were difficult ones for them. The 87/88 team was largely the leftovers of the Ron Atkinson days. Whiteside, Strachan, Moran, Duxbury, Albiston, Moses, Jesper Olsen, Grame Hogg, Colin Gibson etc. were all still playing for them. Brian McCalir and Steve Bruce had already come in but 1988/89 began to signal a proper changing of the guard there, a process which accelerated in the summer of 1989.
With Gascoigne around, it was a project which could have easily gone in the wrong direction. Manchester United needed to be getting rid of their drinkers at that stage. Bringing in an even bigger drinker than the ones there, and more importantly a dominant personality who would likely have revitalised the fabled United Drinking Club, would likely have been disastrous for a project that ended up veering perilously close to disaster as it was. Manchester United needed soldiers at that stage, not jesters.
Ferguson did a great job with Paul McGrath alright
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Spurs took care of Gazza’s family who were living in abject poverty in the North East of England. Gazza is on record as saying the compassion and family values that Spurs showed towards his parents was a key factor in choosing Spurs over Man U.
But he still admitted it was a mistake to The Boss in later years which was my original point
Ferguson would have destroyed Gascoigne
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Lineker and Gazza were great. Vinny Samways and David Howells conducting it all.
Gazza hardly had that much of a drink problem at 19 though?
It was the party lifestyle in London that almost ruined him.
Ferguson did his best with McGrath and Whiteside but it just didn’t happen for them.
He drove them to drink
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Hoddle was some player in his pomp …I remember a thrashing of Watford in a cup semi final I think
Let’s not talk about the FA Cup Final that followed the Watford semi final. His last game for Spurs.
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