Paul Gascoigne was a one-off, with every single team-mate of his managing to tell a tale for the Gazza archives.
The former England man’s career took in no less than nine clubs over a 20-year span, beginning with his childhood team Newcastle United until he called time on his career following a spell with non-league Boston United.
And just about every player who shared a pitch or dressing room with him had a story to tell, many of which would only be suitable after the watershed.
What Paul Gascoigne was like at Lazio
In fact, here at FourFourTwo, we previously collated 50 of the best Gazza anecdotes for you, with the sheer volume of stories, pranks and mishaps underlining giving you an inkling into the legend that was Gazza.
And they were just the tip of the iceberg, as former Germany striker Karl-Heinz Ridele can attest to after he told FourFourTwo of some of the Gateshead-born star’s exploits that he encountered during the 1992/93 season that they spent together at Lazio.
“There are so many stories,” the German exclusively tells FourFourTwo. “I always say to Thomas Doll and Aron Winter that we could write a book, because so many things happened – and I only played with him for one year!
“Once, I was with Thomas and Aron in our hotel room when Gazza knocked on the door. He was standing there naked with a six-pack of beer and said, ‘Come on, guys, let’s have a beer.’ We were like, ‘No, Gazza – there’s a game tomorrow and we won’t drink the day beforehand.’”
“Another time, we were on the team bus when manager Dino Zoff fell asleep and Gazza went to sit next to him, completely naked! Dino could see the funny side of it – he was laughing as well. Dino knew he had to take him like he was. He handled Gazza really well.”
Like so many of Gazza’s other ex-team-mates, Riedler also reflected on the other side of his former colleague, who FourFourTwo ranked at no. 7 on our list of the 25 best England players ever last year.
“Gazza was a very special person,” Riedle adds. “He was funny and could be completely over the top – in everything – when he was in the group, but he was really a nice guy when you had him in a one-on-one situation. Some people remember him only for his eccentric behaviour, which is a shame, because he was an incredible player.
“In training, even the Italian guys said, “F**king hell, what’s this?” He was going all over the place in training sessions – you couldn’t stop him. Gazza was definitely one of the best players I ever played with.”
