Paul Gascoigne (born in Gateshead, England on May 27, 1967) is an English football player, often referred to by his nickname Gazza.

His career has included playing for Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Middlesbrough and Rangers. He has also played 57 games for England. He is currently on a football coaching course.

Gascoigne grew up in the Dunston area of Gateshead and played for the local Redheugh Boys Club. He signed for Newcastle United in 1983 as an apprentice and made his first team debut in 1985. In total, he made 99 appearances and scored 25 goals for Newcastle before being bought by Tottenham Hotspur in 1988 for £2 million. Later that year he made his first England appearance when he came on as a substitute in a game against Denmark.

In 1990 he was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year after an emotional performance at Italia 90, where he cried in the semi final after receiving a booking which would have seen him suspended for the final had England won. An injury in the 1991 FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest prevented him from playing for more than a year. As he recovered from injury, he moved to Serie A side Lazio for a fee of £5.5 million. Beset by injury and intrusive media interest, he had little success playing for his new club side and returned to the UK in June 1995 to play for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. After scoring a hat-trick in the final game of the season against Aberdeen, he was awarded the title of Scottish Player of the Season.

During Euro 96, Gascoigne enjoyed arguably the best form of his life, scoring a spectacular goal against Scotland and coming within an inch of scoring against Germany in the semi final. Problems with form, injury and discipline saw him omitted from the France 98 squad by coach Glenn Hoddle, Gascoigne was never to play for his country again. He had joined Middlesbrough in 1998 but continuing problems with drink led to him being released from his contract. Gascoigne then joined Everton and after a period of rehabilitation from his now acknowledged problem with alcoholism, he moved on to Burnley. In 2002, Gascogine went on trial with US club D.C. United, but failed to win a contract. Later, his career reached such a low that he was last seen playing for a second division team in China called the Gansu Agricultural Land Reclamation Flying Horses - but failed to allow the player to find his earlier form.

On 30 July 2004, he signed a deal to become player-coach for Football League Two club Boston United. After leading the club for 11 games he left the club on 5 October 2004 to begin a football coaching course. He made five appearances for the club but didn't score any goals.

In October 2004, he announced that he wanted to change his name, and later told a television audience that he wanted to be called "G8". He said he wanted to do this because "it sounds a bit like great, well it does with my geordie accent". Gascoigne is estranged from his wife Sheryl and they have a son, Regan.

Career statistics

Going into the 2004/05 season, Gascoigne scored a total of 110 goals in 457 appearances for the 8 clubs he played for. At an international level, he played 57 times for England and scored 10 goals.