Gascoigne’s descent into alcoholism mirrors greaves’s fall

Thirty-two years ago, Alf Ramsey omitted Jimmy Greaves from his team for the final games of the World Cup, the last major trophy won by an England team.

Greaves, the quicksilver goal poacher did return to the England team after missing the World Cup final against West Germany and eventually played 57 games for his country, the same number as Gascoigne, scoring 44 goals.

And although he continued to play at the top level for five more years after the World Cup, and was top scorer in the old First Division in 1969, he retired prematurely in 1971 at the age of 31 — the same age Gascoigne is now.

In some of the most chilling testaments ever delivered by a sportsman, Greaves described hisdescent into a personal hell which he says began after he was left out of the World Cup final team.

“The bottom fell out of my life,” he recalled. “I felt an old man at 31.” Greaves sought refuge in the vodka bottle in his own personal version of the lost weekend.

“I became a walking vegetable. I can remember waking up in my car not knowing where I was. I’d look at my watch and if it was dark I would know if it was morning or night. It took me a long time to realise that if I didn’t stop drinking I would kill myself,” said Greaves.

Despite his alcoholism, Greaves continued to play at senior semi-professional level until the mid-1970s before embarking on an ultimately successful rehabilitation course.

He later became a genial television pundit, playing the sit-down comic to Ian St John’s straight man.

Alcohol has been a dark stream running through British soccer culture, particularly since an explosion in wages generated a host of temptations for young working class lads with money to burn andtime to fill.

Before Gascoigne, the most famous British casualty was the gloriously gifted Northern Irishman George Best, who unlike Greaves, remains a practising alcoholic.

Best was the first footballer to attain pop star status with all the attendant temptations.

He was also the best footballer produced in the British Isles and at his cruelly short peak rivalled Pele as the world’s best.

Pele had first hand evidence of the ravages created by drink.

His teammate Garrincha, the `Little Bird’, was outstanding during the 1958 and 1962 World Cups and still around for the 1966 tournament.

By then a cartilage operation and injuries sustained in a car crash had eroded his skills and he descended into alcoholism after leaving his wife and seven daughters to marry a nightclub singer.

His faculties became so addled that Garrincha was unable to recognise Pele at a parade of great Brazilian footballers in Rio De Janeiro shortly before his death.

Initial reports at the weekend that Gascoigne had gone intoa clinic were accompanied by news that Malcolm MacDonald, who scored all five goals for England against Cyprus at Wembley in 1975, was also being treated for alcoholism.

The Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ trade union, was reported to be paying for MacDonald’s treatment in a detoxifying clinic.

Two England players, Paul Merson and Tony Adams, have fought well-publicised battles against alcoholism and, significantly, Merson left Gascoigne’s club Middlesbrough this season citing the pervasive culture of drinking and gambling.

Merson broke down at a news conference yesterday when asked about Gascoigne, saying his troubled former teammate would need to go through hell if he hoped to win his battle.

“He won’t stop crying if it all starts today,” Merson said. “At the moment he’ll be feeling really bad.”