One of the great myths was that Ferguson would have magically cured Gazza’s mental health issues. The lad is bipolar and suffered PTSD after seeing a childhood friend die in an accident.
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I’ve heard it said that London’s size might have suited Gascoigne more than Manchester would have. You can lose yourself more in a city like London, you’re more anonymous, well at least you would have been in 1988 or 1989 I think.
Manchester was a much smaller town. The Madchester craze, the Hacienda and all that, was beginning to come to the boil at that time. It’s difficult to see how Gascoigne would have been able to stay away from the temptations Manchester offered at that time.
When you’re a massive star in a smaller city, like Maradona was in Naples, you’re everybody’s property.
I’ve heard the same argument made about George Best, that the best thing he could have done after winning the European Cup in 1968 was to get the hell out of Manchester and move either to a London club or probably more preferably abroad.
But I suppose in the end neither London nor Italy were able to tame Gascoigne’s personality and his drinking.
Remember it well ,Brian kilclyne ,mickey gin ,ogrisovich…Hoddle was so talented .have England ever had a player to match his vision and passing ? I don’t recall him having a good English career though ?
Watford had a guy playing in goal in that who ran a wine bar, they had an injury crisis where they lost about three goalkeepers and got this guy in at short notice. Gary Plumley was his name. It was live on RTE. I think he ended up letting a cross go into his net or some such. Tottenham were brilliant that season, they beat Liverpool home and away in the league, I think they finished third, lost out in a League Cup semi-final to Arsenal after a replay - one of the great cup ties of all time, and lost the FA Cup final.
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Never knew that about Watford keeper …
We made a decent enough start to the 1987/88 season as well, then went on an horrific run from about early October of something like 2 points from 9 games which coincided with some nocturnal indiscretions from David Pleat which saw him relieved of his duties.
He had a passable World Cup in '86 when he was brought in after Robson and Wilkins left the team for injury/disciplinary reasons. Nearly scored against Argentina from a free kick but other than that he didn’t have a great game, it was Barnes that almost brought England back into it. He was very good against Ireland in Stuttgart in '88 as a substitute.
Hoddle did for Gascoigne in the end. I always saw it as a big mistake that he left Gascoigne out in '98. Gascoigne had run the show in the 0-0 in Rome that qualified England so he still had plenty to offer, even if only off the bench. Hoddle’s man management was by all accounts very poor. He should have been the man to understand Gascoigne more than anybody but he just cast him aside. Despite similarities football wise they had extremely different personalities.
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I thought Hoddle was really awful against Argentina in 86. Just lets Maradona run past him for one of the goals, I think it’s the first one.
TBH he was before my time but the impression I get of Hoddle is that it was hard to kick a football back then and not everyone could cross and curl it properly so if you could do that you were considered great, even if nearly every other aspect of your game was lacking and you were a lazy lightweight like Glenn Hoddle. Or the Glenn Hoddle I’ve seen anyway.
Did Hoddle ever play in a good football team? Every team he ever played in were shite weren’t they?
Good night Sid
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Peak Lineker was 85/86 at Everton and the '86 World Cup. He never reached quite the same heights again although he was still always a threat. But Tottenham got the wrong end of their transfer dealings in '89 when they sold Waddle and signed Lineker. They missed out on Waddle’s real peak years.
They should have gone for John Aldridge or Ally McCoist and kept Waddle. Mo Johnston was available too that summer.
It was struck with the conviction of a man comfortable in his own abilities.
A goal for the ages.
A far, far cry from the efforts the carthorses that represent the 3 lions could dream of.
Players didnt just move for success then. Hoddle was a genius. Gifted
Hoddle won the French league with Monaco in '87/88. They got knocked out unexpectedly by Galatasaray in the quarter-finals of the European Cup the following year, when they would have had a decent chance of getting through to a final against AC Milan. This was when Turkish football was shite, unlike now when they’re dark horses to win the Euros. Oh wait.
He won an fa cup with spurs too, a remarkable achievement
Two FA Cups. In the cup for Tottingham.
Gascoigne just needed a fella to be strict with him. 
Would have solved everything.
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Scored in both finals against QPR in 82. Tommy Hutchinson scored for both city and spurs in 81.
Forgot about qpr to be honest
If ferguson got him it would have given him half a chance instead of going to London and Spurs.
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Or let loose in London where there are no distractions.
He’d find trouble in a room with himself.
Terry Venables was QPR manager. I love the way the same names keep cropping up in this discussion across different eras. Gascoigne, Hoddle, Venables. It’s like talking about the Republican party through the ages and you keep seeing the names Stone, Cheney, Manafort and Rove in all of them.
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