Footy legend Paul Gascoigne's booze demons are well documented - and it seems that he's fallen off the deep end once again. It had appeared that the former Spurs, Newcastle, Lazio and Rangers star was making a move towards the straight and narrow when he went to a rehab facility in the US, paid for by celebrity friends including Gary Lineker, but the Geordie has allegedly relapsed after reports emerging from the UK this morning that Gazza collapsed and was "very drunk" outside a London hotel.
The 46-year-old was said to found "face down" on the ground, with two bottles of gin and several hundred pounds in cash (according to The Sun) prompting onlookers to call the police and an ambulance.
Eyewitness Daniel Stubbe told the Daily Mirror: "He had a stick or a crutch and we thought it was just this old disabled guy. He looked so old and so ill."
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "Police were called to reports of a man causing a disturbance outside a hotel in Russell Square. The man was taken to a central London hospital by the ambulance service. There were no arrests."
Gascoigne was arrested on Thursday of last week after getting into an altercation with a train station employee in Stevenage.
This is another sad footnote in the story of Gazza, one of the finest footballing talents the UK has produced over the last thirty years. As good as he was on the pitch, he's not without many flaws off it. Let's hope he pulls himself together before too long.
Now, to remind ourselves of Gazza's better days...
