...and thinks he could have assisted him :

"We spoke to him the night before I went on holiday. He says 'Go and enjoy yourself Mr Ferguson, I'll be signing for Manchester United'.

"So I went on my holidays but Martin Edwards [then chairman] rang and said 'I've got some bad news - he signed for Tottenham. They bought a house for his mother and father in the North East and that swung it'.

"I think it was a bad mistake, and Paul admits it. We had Bryan Robson, a Geordie, Steve Bruce, a Geordie, Gary Pallister, from Middlesbrough... We had a structure of players who could have helped him and it could have given him some discipline."

He may well be correct....it is very sad to see what has happened to Gascoigne....very sad indeed.