ALLY SLAMS SFA U-TURN
ALLY McCOIST has branded the decision to withdraw Paul Gascoigne’s nomination to the Hall of Fame an embarrassment. Gascoigne’s former rival Vinnie
Jones has also claimed organisers could have harmed the recovery of the former Rangers favourite from mental illness.
The England hero was chosen to be inducted with the great and good of Scottish football at a gala dinner in Glasgow next Sunday.
But the nomination was met by fierce opposition, with some SFA board members set to snub the dinner in protest over his association with domestic abuse, racist language and sectarianism.
As a result, organisers withdrew the nomination for the troubled star – much to the disgust of former Ibrox team-mate McCoist.
He used his talkSPORT show to lambast the late U-turn and says Gascoigne deserves his place at the top table of the Scottish game.
McCoist said: “How can they release something saying Paul Gascoigne has been inducted into the SFA Hall of Fame? Great, Paul gets a boost... then with nine days to go it gets withdrawn. It’s an embarrassment.
“We got the best of Gascoigne when he was at Rangers. He lit up Scottish football. Does he deserve his place in the Scottish football Hall of Fame? One hundred per cent. In his threeyear spell at Rangers he was nothing short of sensational.”
Former Wimbledon skipper Jones also condemned organisers for the “disgraceful” decision.
He said: “Gazza has worked his backside off over the last couple of years to sort those (mental health) issues out and he’s on the road to recovery but this is a massive kick in the nuts.
“This is a massive setback for the boy. I’m absolutely gutted for him. How’s he going to feel now they’ve done this? It’s going to hurt him really bad.”