Comments on: Gazza, the Clown Prince http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/ A soccer blog featuring essays, news and photography exploring soccer around the world Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:59:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: footballfilter.com http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-3271 footballfilter.com Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:09:26 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/#comment-3271 <strong>Pitch Invasion - Gazza, the Clown Prince</strong> Another Gazza article but well worth checking out for the vids. Tis such a shame he lost the plot. Pitch Invasion – Gazza, the Clown Prince

Another Gazza article but well worth checking out for the vids. Tis such a shame he lost the plot.

]]> By: Bet Blogger http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-3257 Bet Blogger Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:31:29 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/#comment-3257 A great video the second one, really makes you appreciate just how good a player he was, I'd kinda forgotten just why he'd become such a star in the first place but that reminded me. He really had it all at one stage in 1990 and if it wasn't for that stupid tackle in the Cup Final in 91 then I reckon it could have turned out better for him. If I remember rightly he was out for at least a year with that knee injury and it was probably during that time - when he was bored - that his drinking took off and, sadly, what has shaped his life since. I really hope he gets his life back on track soon because he was a legend. He needs something to focus on and maybe a job with the FA doing something in the game could be a starting point. He needs to get some proper counselling but, with the right treatment, he can get better. A great video the second one, really makes you appreciate just how good a player he was, I’d kinda forgotten just why he’d become such a star in the first place but that reminded me. He really had it all at one stage in 1990 and if it wasn’t for that stupid tackle in the Cup Final in 91 then I reckon it could have turned out better for him. If I remember rightly he was out for at least a year with that knee injury and it was probably during that time – when he was bored – that his drinking took off and, sadly, what has shaped his life since. I really hope he gets his life back on track soon because he was a legend. He needs something to focus on and maybe a job with the FA doing something in the game could be a starting point. He needs to get some proper counselling but, with the right treatment, he can get better.

]]> By: The Groundsman http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-3213 The Groundsman Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:03:32 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/#comment-3213 Nearly made me cry, that. I loved Gazza as a child, but it's time for him to forever leave that name behind and just be Paul Gascoigne-- if only he knew who that was without the drink and the football. He still has plenty of time to get better and begin a new portion in his life, but does he know what he can do without football? Nearly made me cry, that. I loved Gazza as a child, but it’s time for him to forever leave that name behind and just be Paul Gascoigne– if only he knew who that was without the drink and the football. He still has plenty of time to get better and begin a new portion in his life, but does he know what he can do without football?

]]> By: SpanglyPrincess http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-3158 SpanglyPrincess Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:16:35 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/02/21/gazza-the-clown-prince/#comment-3158 Poor man. It is not any real surprise I suppose that he has ended here. Gazza's story makes me think of an epic late nineteenth century novel - the dizzying rise, the hubris, the inevitability of the fall, the lovable but fundamentally flawed genius, the insensate cruelty of the society which builds him up and tears him to pieces. It's all rather Dickensian. A friend here tells me that when he played at Lazio he was often to be found in the bar at a petrol station on the Via Cassia, which heads out towards the biancocelesti's training ground at Formello. My mate used to bump into him there sometimes at about 9 in the morning, having a beer and a bag of crisps, hanging out with the petrol pump attendants. And he'd go back after training. He could have gone anywhere in Rome but that's where he felt comfortable. He is a man wholly without any of the qualities necessary for stardom other than incredible ability in one tiny field, and it was his fortune and his misfortune that he was born into the time and place which enabled him to display that genius. He seems to have no interior resources at all: nothing to draw on, neither discipline nor confidence, responsibility nor self-acceptance. And he has apparently never found anyone capable of helping him to develop any such qualities. I hope he gets well. Poor man. It is not any real surprise I suppose that he has ended here. Gazza’s story makes me think of an epic late nineteenth century novel – the dizzying rise, the hubris, the inevitability of the fall, the lovable but fundamentally flawed genius, the insensate cruelty of the society which builds him up and tears him to pieces. It’s all rather Dickensian.

A friend here tells me that when he played at Lazio he was often to be found in the bar at a petrol station on the Via Cassia, which heads out towards the biancocelesti’s training ground at Formello. My mate used to bump into him there sometimes at about 9 in the morning, having a beer and a bag of crisps, hanging out with the petrol pump attendants. And he’d go back after training. He could have gone anywhere in Rome but that’s where he felt comfortable.

He is a man wholly without any of the qualities necessary for stardom other than incredible ability in one tiny field, and it was his fortune and his misfortune that he was born into the time and place which enabled him to display that genius. He seems to have no interior resources at all: nothing to draw on, neither discipline nor confidence, responsibility nor self-acceptance. And he has apparently never found anyone capable of helping him to develop any such qualities. I hope he gets well.

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