England legend Paul Gascoigne has opened up about his new life living on the south coast of England, where he is staying in the spare room of his agent’s alcohol-free house.
Gascoigne, 56, has publicly struggled with mental health issues and alcohol addiction since ending his legendary football career in 2004.
He earned 57 caps for his country and played for several top teams including Tottenham, Newcastle, Lazio and Rangers.
Yesterday it was revealed that he now lives with his agent Katie Davies on a residential street in Poole, seven miles from Bournemouth.
During the interview with High performance‘Gazza’ also revealed that when he arrived on the south coast he was stopped by football fans for a drink and that he got drunk “for three or four days.”
Paul Gascoigne has opened up about his never-ending battle to stay sober and his new life living on the south coast in the spare room of his agent’s alcohol-free house.
Gascoigne said it was a “nightmare” when he first moved, mentioning the story of how Manchester United fans bought him drinks when they traveled to Bournemouth for a match.
‘Gazza’ is considered one of the best English players of all time with 57 caps for his country
The former England international pictured with his coach Katie Davies in October 2019.
He said: ‘BournemouthIt is not such a football city. When I first arrived they stopped me on weekends, it was a nightmare.
“If Bournemouth played at home, like Manchester United, the city would be full of Manchester United fans.”
When Jake Humphrey asked him if it was “hard” dealing with everyone wanting to buy him a drink, Gascoigne joked: “Oh yeah, that’s a good thing: it saves me money.
‘But no, I’ve had that all my life. It’s not so much the drink but the consequences.
“I know I’m in trouble if I look at my phone and I have like 30 messages and 30 missed calls. I’m like, oh shit.”
“I’ve been fine, last year wasn’t brilliant, I was on and off, a couple of months and then a three or four day spree.”
Gascoigne, who was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 before ending his career in 2004, has struggled with his battle for sobriety since his retirement.
He went to rehab for the seventh time for alcohol addiction in 2014, attending a £6,000-a-month clinic in Southampton, and even paid £20,000 to have anti-alcohol pellets placed in his stomach in a bid to stop drinking. He admitted during a 2021 interview that he “will always be an alcoholic.”
Gascoigne said fans would stop him for a drink at Bournemouth and he would go on a bender for “three or four days” after months of staying away from alcohol.
Gazza has struggled with sobriety since his retirement from football two decades ago.
Photographed during a television interview with ITV last year, Gascoigne’s battle with alcohol has led to a series of arrests for drink-driving and disorderly conduct and drink-driving offences.
Gascoigne’s battle with alcohol has also led to a series of arrests for disorderly conduct and drunk driving offences. The former superstar admits that she hardly watches football anymore because she misses it so much.
The former midfielder, who used to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings “all the time” but now goes much less frequently, admitted he is trying to visit more often.
‘I went to a meeting the other night, so it was good. Just an AA meeting. I went with a friend and it was good. They are fine, they are harmless,” she said.
During the interview, Gascoigne said that he “used to be a happy drunk” but now he is a “sad drunk” as he likes to drink inside instead of going out.
He also said that if ‘he wants it to be a bad day’ he will go to the pub, while on good days he will go fishing.
He added: ‘People know Paul Gascoigne, but nobody knows Gazza. Even me sometimes. I have been unemployed for many years, when I had my ligaments done and then my kneecap, I missed four years of football. He would have played 100 international matches (for England).
‘I try not to get depressed because the world is already depressed enough. And when I’m really down, that’s when I have a drink to cheer myself up.
“I don’t think I’ve let down any coaches, players or fans, you know.” If there was anyone I disappointed, it was myself. But it was more the drinking side, when I finished playing.
Now, instead of binge drinking, Gascoigne drinks plenty of coffee. The former soccer player admitted during the interview that he usually drinks six coffees at 10 in the morning and in total approximately 15 packets of Mocha a day.
“It’s really easy, I just try to stay away from places,” he continued. ‘If I have a drink, I have it because I want to, it’s not for any particular reason. I don’t blame anyone, I used to blame a lot of people when I was drinking. “It’s fucking because he did that.” “Because so and so he did this.”
“After attending the first couple of meetings, I followed the 12 steps and one of them was to meet the person you blamed and apologize.”
The English legend talked about how he once apologized to a shop owner after stealing a chocolate bar. The salesperson told Gascoigne that the store’s CCTV cameras had caught it, but he decided not to do anything about it because it was “him.”
Some members of the public, however, are less kind and forgiving of Gascoigne. Katie, who doesn’t keep alcohol in the house, revealed that some people occasionally leave bottles of gin on the doorstep, hoping Gascoigne will unknowingly pick up the bottle and opportunistically take a photograph.
Gascoigne spoke about his life after football and how he deals with his past: “I called Katie in November a few years ago crying my eyes out.
Gascoigne cries after England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to West Germany in July 1990.
Gascoigne (pictured with Gary Lineker) played for clubs including Tottenham, Newcastle, Lazio and Rangers.
“What I and other people went through, jail and rehab (getting cocaine out of toilet seats) and then being asked to be an ambassador for my country, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“When I visit these places, I hardly talk about football, more about the crazy things I used to do. I have to go right in and make them laugh.
“There were a few times when I cried on stage. You miss it on a Saturday, you know, entertaining people. He made me very emotional and you miss it.
‘I can be emotionally soft. Sometimes it doesn’t take us long to cry. I keep a lot of things there, things that I should share but that I’m afraid to share with people. I don’t think he’ll ever grow up, which I don’t care about, you know?
‘I am proud of what I have given to people. I gave almost a million pounds to 10 different charities and called them to keep it secret.
‘I have never (given up). I think the moment I will give up will be when I am in a wooden box. Other than that, I will continue fighting.”