In the recent Euro 96 Documentary which I posted elsewhere on the forum, Gazza obviously was mentioned, and interviewed. Most of the players said that they see him every now and them, but not much, and that as Seaman said âGazza is dealing with his own issuesâ.
I thought that was sad, that they werenât doing more to help him. Then it cut to Gazza, and Shearer asked him does he see much of the Euro 96 gang (avoiding the obvious one that thereâs one sitting right in front of you). Gazza replied saying that he cant see them. That seeing them, makes him want to go back. And that he canât go back, its too hard. He told a story about how after his first season with Newcastle he went home to his dad and wept because it was over, only for his dad to explain that it will all start up again in a few week, once the summer is over. But Gazza couldnât see that far into the future, his whole life has always been the here and now.
This was always on the cards sadly. Iâm not sure anything could really have changed it, not even the theory about Ferguson getting his hands on him, which is the biggest pile of horseshit Iâve ever seen tbh.
I was very moved by some of the stories about Ray Wilkins that emerged after his sad passing. He was a lovely guy, even if he played for horrible teams.
I visited that stadium with my family on July 31st, 1993.
As we walked to the stadium, two chaps on a motorbike, who appeared to be Genoa ultras, as one of them was wearing a Genoa scarf across his face, offered to give myself and lapsed forum member @Trapattoni a lift on their bike. Iâm always sorry my mother wouldnât let them. While there was probably a 3% chance they would have abducted and murdered us, I liked the 97% odds they wouldnât have.
When we got to the stadium, it was locked up, but we got talking to two laundry ladies who were working at the stadium. They didnât speak English and we didnât speak Italian, but they reacted warmly to the word âIrlandaâ and brought us into a laundry room and gave myself and Trap a free pair of Sampdoria shorts each.
Unreal coincidence - I was listening to âEmancipationâ by Prince on the train from Milan to Genoa that day, even though it wouldnât be released for another three years.