Ole signs are good
New book unearths more Gazza gems
RYAN GIGGS believes Manchester United need at least three new signings to challenge for the title.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has steered United to a third-placed finish.
And he wants to build on the progress made this season with some key summer signings, including £100m-rated Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho.
United legend and Wales boss Giggs said: “I agree they need three players that can go into the starting eleven, even to challenge for the league and the Champions League next year.
“After lockdown, Ole’s played the same team more or less but he’s beginning to mould a team, which is exciting.”
IT was one of the most iconic sporting photographs – Wimbledon hard man Vinnie Jones grabbing Paul Gascoigne by the lunchbox.
It was taken during an unremarkable 0-0 draw with Newcastle in February 1988.
Jones said: “The first thing I told him when I got near him was that I wouldn’t be playing any football and neither would he.
“I then left him, adding: ‘Hey, fatty, I’ll be back for you in a minute.’
“Monte Fresco, the photographer who took the picture, heard that and decided to just concentrate on the pair of us. It was a gamble which paid off.
“As a Newcastle free-kick was being taken, I didn’t want Gazza to move forward towards the ball. As we’re jostling, he said to me: ‘You’re earning your £100 today.’
“It was meant as an insult, so I just grabbed him by the you-know-whats and it was spot-on. There was no messing. It was straight on the button and I didn’t let go.
“In the dressing room after the game, the lads were telling me what a great job I’d done on Gazza.
“Then the door opened and one of the ground staff came in with a red rose, telling me that Gazza had sent it.
“I told him to hold on while I ran into the toilet area and got the bog brush and then asked him to go back to the Newcastle dressing room and hand it over to Gazza.”
Later that year Gascoigne visited Jones’ home for some clay-pigeon shooting.
Jones said: “He took a shot and turned around with his double-barrelled shotgun in my direction... with me yelling, ‘Point the gun the other way you stupid prat’. Back came the reply: ‘Why don’t you try and grab my b ****** s now!’”
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BRYAN ROBSON could not wait to lead Middlesbrough’s first Premier League away trip on their shiny new executive team coach.
But Paul Gascoigne took it for a spin and crashed it, causing thousands of pounds of damage.
Boro set off for Aston Villa four hours late after they had to summon a replacement vehicle for their journey and lost 3-1.
Those garden sprinkler tears at the 1990 World Cup defined Gazza’s career, but off the pitch he was incurably hyperactive – and an accident waiting to happen.
As a player, Robson was England’s very own Captain Marvel who went to three World Cup tournaments.
But as a manager, he never thought he would have to fine his best player for hijacking the team bus.
The former Boro boss said: “The lads took to him because the moment he arrived he was