Gazza struggles to avoid Best's mistakes

Paul Gascoigne's sacking as a minor league manager over his alleged drinking habits will revive fears, if not pity, for the troubled former England soccer favourite.

Gascoigne, who admitted last year he had even considered suicide as he grappled with alcoholism, was back on tabloid front pages on Tuesday after the booze apparently cost him his job at Kettering Town after 39 days.

Owner Imraan Ladak accused Gascoigne of drinking before, during and after the club's matches and training sessions.

"He feels I should have done more - but I have had conversations with him he can't remember because he was drunk," Ladak told BBC radio.

Gascoigne countered by saying he had drunk a double brandy before a recent match, but told Sky Sports News: "Before it used to be four bottles of whisky. It's not any more."

Their highly public spat was followed hours later by Gascoigne spending Monday night at a police station following an alleged assault by the 38-year-old in Liverpool. He was released on bail on Tuesday.

For the many fans who remember Gascoigne for his exuberant talent on the pitch, the worrying aspect of his dismissal by a club playing two divisions below the Football League will be the spectre of drink.

Coming just days after George Best, the greatest player to come out of the British Isles, was buried in his native Belfast after a life racked by alcoholism, the allegations take on an extra resonance.

Gascoigne's drinking has been blamed in the media for causing the break-up of his marriage and sparked a string of lurid headlines ever since he was left out of England's squad for the 1998 World Cup finals.

He had shot to fame with the national side at the World Cup in 1990, his tears at England's semifinal exit on penalties to Germany becoming one of the tournament's lasting images.

Blessed with great ball skills and a rare creative vision, Gascoigne's club career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio and Rangers. Despite some bad injuries over the years, he also amassed 57 England caps and scored two memorable goals at Wembley Stadium.

In a 2000 poll of fans, Gascoigne's lob over Scotland defender Colin Hendry and volley into the net at Euro 96 was voted the best goal ever scored beneath the Twin Towers.

His 30-metre free kick for Spurs in their 1991 FA Cup semifinal victory over derby rivals Arsenal was voted the fifth best.

It was all a far cry from the latter years of his career, spent at Middlesbrough, Everton, Burnley and the relative wilderness of China's second division before he hung up his boots last year as player/manager of fourth division Boston United.

In one of the more bizarre twists, fed up with his Gazza nickname, Gascoigne also announced at the time he wanted henceforth to be called G8 -- combining his initial and former shirt number.

The idea was to sever ties with his hell-raising days when large amounts of alcohol, consumed in the company of his best mate Jimmy 'Five Bellies' Gardner, frequently turned the player into the nation's laughing stock.

However, G8 proved to be yet another change which did not work out for Gascoigne, whose future in football management is looking increasingly bleak.

- REUTERS