Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We missed out on two Gazzas… the player and coach
POTTS REVEALS ACE’S SERIOUS SIDE
PAUL GASCOIGNE is still a national treasure – even though it is 20 years since he last kicked a football in anger.
A BBC film has just been released detailing the rise and fall of a player who was blessed and possessed in equal measure.
It comes just six years after the last documentary. Gazza remains pure Box Office.
But if it’s real insight you’re looking for, an eyewitness account from someone who was there when Gascoigne was fighting for his career, just a year after he had captured the hearts of a nation with his tears in Turin, then Anthony Potts is the man to talk to.
Potts never quite made the grade at Tottenham when Gascoigne was thrilling White Hart Lane on a weekly basis. Injuries saw to that. He teaches in China now.
But when the England midfielder was battling to recover from the selfinflicted knee ligament rupture that brought an agonising end to his 1991
FA Cup Final, he took a talented kid from Spurs’ successful youth team under his wing.
Potts, too, was recovering from knee surgery. But while Gascoigne was driven by the promise of a £5.5million move to Lazio, Potts’ motivation was to make it into the first team.
For a few months they became kindred spirits – and Potts was given an insight into the true cost of Gazza’s genius.
“The thing about Paul was that he was obsessed with football,” said Potts (right) .
“If he had just been able to play the game and not get caught up in all the other stuff off the pitch, then there would have been no end to what he could have achieved.
“I also think he would have been a brilliant coach, but for the personal problems that came later.
“He had this natural feeling and understanding of the game.
“There is this perception of Gazza that he didn’t take anything seriously.
“But once he stepped over the white line, either for a game or a training session, he was right at the front for everything.
“At Spurs there would be days when he’d train with the first team in the morning and the reserves or youth team in the afternoon. He wouldn’t muck around. He would give us little bits of advice and made us all better players.
“Coaching came so naturally to him – and because it was Gazza, you listened to every word.
“I really do think football missed out on having two Paul Gascoignes – Gazza the player and Gazza the coach.”
Potts and Gascoigne kept each other company in the gym during the long, lonely hours of rehab. Soon
they were sharing afternoon beers over games of pool.
And Potts was there in a Newcastle nightclub when the country’s most famous footballer was involved in a scuffle that resulted in further knee damage.
“So many people attached themselves to Paul,” recalled Potts. “I was actually embarrassed to be in his company at first. Not that I didn’t love every moment, but because I didn’t want people thinking this kid from the youth team thought he was a big-time Charlie. But, looking back, it was such a precious time in my life.
“I was in the worst possible place with injury, yet I used to go into training thinking I was the luckiest person in the world. That’s how Gazza made you feel.”