While the above headline is swiped from the prohibitive Republican presidential nominee, this week’s incident involving former England international Paul Gascoigne recalls Bobby Robson’s early claim that Gazza was “as daft as a brush”. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Edmund Tadros has some of the unsavory details.
Former football star Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne was reportedly wandering around a hotel with three battery operated plastic parrots squawking “Give us a kiss”.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United player was arrested at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead and detained under the British Mental Health Act.
Gascoigne, 40, was recovering from a hip operation at the Malmaison Hotel when the fire alarms were set off on Thursday morning, London’s Telegraph reports.
He refused to evacuate when police were called and had an exchange with the night porter.
A source told the Telegraph that Gascoigne had been walking around the building with three battery operated plastic parrots.
With the possible exception of Mike Tyson, it’s hard to come up with a global sporting icon whose fall from grace has been nearly as dramatic (sorry, Kevin Stevens). Had the former Newcastle/Spurs midfielder moved to the U.S. a few years ago, Gascoigne would at the very least have a shot at the 2nd season of VH-1’s “Celebrity Rehab”, if not a spot in the starting XI for Hollywood United.