HITTING A HIGH NOTE 3 LIONS ON THE SHIRT... GAZZA WASN’T BEAMING!
England legend stopped coach and police escort to fix tape deck after Baddiel and Skinner’s famous anthem jammed, wrecking his usual pre-match sing-song
PAUL GASCOIGNE was so obsessed with playing the Euro 96 theme song ‘Three Lions’ before every game he once ordered the Wembley-bound coach to stop.
Ted Buxton, who was one of Terry Venables’ loyal assistants both at Spurs and with England, was dumbstruck as Gazza went into meltdown en route to a game.
“On the coach, as we approached Wembley Way for the games, Gazza would always insist that the driver put on the tape with the England song Three Lions, football’s coming home and all that,” recalled Buxton.
“We had to simply have it on otherwise Gazza would be beside himself. Before one game, the tape wouldn’t work. Gazza is now going mad along with some of the other players, who, by now, like him, have become superstitious.
“We didn’t want anything to spoil our routine and the song by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel (top, right) was now a big part of our pre-match tradition.
“Gazza insisted that the coach stop – complete with police escort – as the
Gazza beats Hendry to fire in classic goal against Scots driver frantically attempted to rescue the tape. The police didn’t know what was going on, they must have thought the coach had broken down.
“Thankfully, the tape eventually started belting out, ‘It’s coming home, football’s coming home.’ We’re all singing and Gazza’s happy again.”
It was Venables’ faithful sidekick Buxton who was designated to try and keep a manic Gazza in check during the build-up to internationals.
Buxton added: “When Terry was England manager and we were staying in hotels, he always had members of staff, including me, in charge of the players whose rooms were on a particular floor. Gazza was always on my floor as Terry felt I could handle him, having known him at Spurs.
“The night before one game, I was told by Terry to get all the players on my floor up to bed. That included Gazza. I told him to have a good night’s sleep and I’d see him in the morning. At about 1am my phone in the room rang and it was Gazza.
“Ted, are you awake?” he asked. “Well, I am now!” I replied. He said he couldn’t sleep. He wanted me to go down and have a game of snooker with
him. I reminded him he had a game the next day. I also warned him that if he did go out of the room, I’d drag him back in.
“The problem was he always wanted people around him, he never liked to be alone. If he didn’t get the buzz of people around him, he could be in trouble.
“Terry was brilliant with him, both at Spurs and with England. At Spurs, when he called a team meeting, inevitably someone would shout out, ‘Where’s Gazza?’ That would be my cue to try and find him.
“More often than not, he would be over with youth team coach Pat Holland and his boys. He’d regularly join in games, so I would have to grab him off the pitch and escort him to the meeting. Terry had a great relationship with Gazza, despite tearing his hair out over some of his escapades.
“The Euro 96 squad was full of fantastic characters and the atmosphere at some games reminded me of the celebrations at the end of World War Two, thousands of fans with their flags and banners lining the route to Wembley for our games.”
And Gazza booming out Three Lions... once he got the tape working.