I never thought I would say this Hoopy, but there is sense in this post in parts. I would say he was far more the focus of attention in his earlier career, remember the photo with Vinny Jones it became almost iconic. The boys don't cry bit in 92. I mean he was almost the living embodiment of Viz magazine in the early 90's. He went to Italy and at the time Rangers bought him he had been out the game for a while. Gazza's need for attention due to personal insecurity meant that he obviously thrived on the way he was treated in Glasgow. He's also a Geordie and this place must have been pretty close to what he was used to. I agree with you that the same thing would have happened had he gone to Celtic. Back in the day I myself used to buy a drink if I met one of these guys when I was out. The player I remember most from these days was Ian Durrant. I offered to buy him a pint on five separate occasions, he bought me one instead a couple of these times Goram always wanted a Becks though! One of the funniest things I ever saw in a pub was Tommy Burns trying to persuade these Celtic fans that he was a tea totaller. Back then there were no cameras on phones nor was there youtube. Communication was not quite as instant as it is today. Players were more approachable and Gazza with his need to be loved obviously would be kind of vulnerable. Remember George Connelly ? I would agree totally with Nev and Chapper in that it was not Smith's fault. In my opinion Smith and Archie Knox were a really positive influence on Gazza. Oddly enough people with the emotional difficulties Paul Gascoigne possesses generally respond to some form of discipline. Smith and Knox did a sort of good cop/bad cop thing with him. He was **** scared of Knox. They gave him a routine or at least the best they could manage for someone like Paul. Dan's right managers weren't social workers back then. One of Smith's main strengths is man management and this has been acknowledged by the likes of Sir Alex and a whole host of others. I've ranted on enough about poor old Gazza on this thread. I hope he gets better.
