Gascoigne in his days with Lazio
Paul Gascoigne claims he would have been a
Manchester
United legend if he had not snubbed the
club as a youngster. Gascoigne, 41, says it was one of his greatest
regrets that he did not sign for Sir Alex Ferguson, who admitted
this week that ‘not getting Gazza’ was his biggest disappointment
as a manager.
‘He was a fabulous footballer and he would have done brilliantly
here,’ said the United boss in the New Statesman.
The young Gazza, then on the verge of joining United from
Newcastle, was shown around the training ground but chose to join
Tottenham instead - and when he contacted Ferguson years later, he
says the Scot did not seem interested.
‘Maybe if I had stayed at Man U, I might have been still there,’
the former England midfielder tells Sky News tonight.
‘Look at young Rooney, the Neville brothers and Becks, the way
he (Ferguson) just brought them on. I got invited to the academy
and it is a magnificent place and you can see the way he treats his
players, he treats them with respect but he also makes men out of
boys.
Sir Alex Ferguson said in an interview that his
biggest regret was not signing Paul Gascoigne
‘It took me six years to get back talking to Sir Alex. I
called him from Lazio and asked him would he sign us. 'He was with
Eric Cantona and he said he would see what Eric Cantona was going
to do, but I think everyone knows if you do something to Sir Alex
Ferguson the way I did, you don’t get a second
chance.’
Gascoigne has great admiration for the current United squad,
picking out Cristiano Ronaldo as the player he views as ‘the new
Gazza’.
‘I think he is doing a lot better this year than he did last
year, even though he doesn’t score as many goals. I think Sir Alex
has made him a complete player.’
Gascoigne also revealed that he had recently been invited to
visit Diego Maradona. ‘I got a call, they just said Maradona has
invited us to stay with him. I said I’d just leave it because he
was taking on the job of Argentina coach and he would be busy
anyway.
‘In time I would love to manage Newcastle but you have got to
take your badges, you have got to be strong. I am feeling really
strong now.’