I was told to snub Manchester United and sign for Tottenham

In 1988, Paul Gascoigne was the most sought-after player in the transfer market. However, he changed his mind after sending Sir Alex Ferguson on vacation with an agreed-upon move to Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson was on vacation in Malta when he heard the bad news. It was the worst way to end a vacation.

It was the summer of 1988, and Paul Gascoigne decided to join Tottenham after Newcastle United got their £2.2 million asking price. They weren’t the first team to do this, though. United had already put money down on the table.

“Gaza, can I take a vacation now that I’ve hired you?” Ferguson called and asked. The answer was a clear “yes,” but the deal wasn’t quite done yet, and it never was.

The Magpies had been lost in the lower half of the First Division while being led by Willie McFaul. However, they had a star player named Paul Gascoigne. The 20-year-old was known to fill himself with Mars Bars and Newcastle Brown Ale, but he wore out United’s midfielders Bryan Robson, Norman Whiteside, and Remi Moses.

At that time, no one was particularly fit, but Gascoigne did some things to that United middle that no one else had done before. He set his eyes on the player who would win the PFA Young Player of the Year award and be named to the PFA Team of the Year for that season.

So badly did Ferguson want to sign Gascoigne that he talked to the unpredictable player himself and sold the United idea. He worked his magic, and the two agreed to make the deal official. Ferguson could then go on vacation for the summer.

Gascoigne agreed to what seemed like the move of his dreams, so he spent the summer relaxing in his hometown and seeing old friends before moving south to Manchester. At that time, he went out for a drink with Chris Waddle, who was playing for Tottenham at the time.

FourFourTwo recently talked to Waddle about his trip to the North East. “Terry gave me an extra day off and told me to talk to my friend up there about the possibility of him coming to Tottenham because everyone knew he was leaving Newcastle.”

“I talked to Gazza and we agreed to meet at a pub on Sunday at noon.” He walked in with all of his friends by his side. He told me “Manchester United” when I asked him who he was going to sign for. I asked, “Why don’t you come to Spurs?” I told him that he could get lost in London and still keep doing crazy things. If he went to United, Alex Ferguson and some other top stars would be on his case all the time. I told him that Terry Venables knew a lot and would take care of him.

“No, he said, he was still going to Manchester United.” I told him it was okay and wished him luck. I left the bar, and he and his friends yelled, “Waddler, see you at White Hart Lane on Monday!” It was funny. I thought he was kidding, but when I got back to London on Tuesday, I was told that Gazza had signed a deal at the club the day before.

Gascoigne might not have decided that day, but his conversation with Waddle made him think twice. The player was on his way to Old Trafford when Irving Scholar, who was chairman of Tottenham at the time, called.

It is now well known that Scholar tried to get Gascoigne to like him by offering things like a house for his family, a white BMW for his dad, and even a sunbed for his sister. So, the player who was in high demand turned around and went to London instead of Manchester.

Ferguson was so mad at Gascoigne that he wrote him a letter calling him a “silly boy” for turning down the biggest club in the world. The manager of the Reds was upset, which is not a small thing.

Sir Bobby Robson put Gascoigne in his team for Italia ’90 because of how well he played in the next two seasons. He became famous all over the country during that race. When he came back, he helped Tottenham make it to the 1990–91 FA Cup final, but in the first of many cruel turns, he tore ligaments in his knee in a careless charge and had to be taken off on a bed.

The England star didn’t play normal football for more than a year, which was his only real escape. This, along with his growing fame and the attention that came with it, caused problems off the pitch. Gascoigne has been open about his past problems with drugs and drink. During his three years at Lazio, he also got involved with some bad people.

And Gascoigne was almost impossible to control in Italy. Ferguson, on the other hand, could have kept him on the right track. The strange creator feels terrible about it and wishes he could have become a star like other English players who played for the Scot.

He told Sky News in 2009, “Maybe if I had stayed at Man United I would still be there.” “I don’t know. Just look at these players and the team of young kids that play. There’s young Rooney, the Neville brothers, and Becks. Ferguson just brought them on, and there are so many.”

“It took me six years to talk to Sir Alex again. I called him from Lazio and asked him to re-sign us.” He was with Eric Cantona and said he would see what Cantona did. But I think everyone knows that you don’t get a second chance with Sir Alex Ferguson after what I did.

Based on how Ferguson and Gascoigne lived their lives, it seems like Gascoigne is the one who feels guilt. United went on to have unmatched success under their new boss. They won every Premier League title and two Champions League titles as well.

But it’s hard not to think about what Cantona, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole, and the rest of United’s early-1990s team might have done if Gascoigne had been on it. It was one of Ferguson’s biggest tests as a manager, and if he passed, it would have been one of the best things that ever happened to him.

The UTD Podcast asked Ferguson which deal he wishes he had made. Ferguson said, “In reality, you have to say, there’s only one that always comes to mind, and that’s Gascoigne.” “He was truly outstanding. I really believe that he would have had a great future if we had signed him.

I was told to snub Manchester United and sign for Tottenham – I shouldn’t have listened

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