Troubled former England star Paul Gascoigne has been taken to hospital after being found slumped outside his home clutching a bottle of gin, a British newspaper reported Friday.
The Daily Mirror said the 47-year-old Gascoigne, who faces eviction from his luxury flat in Poole on England’s south coast because of complaints by neighbours, had phoned a friend asking: “I’m in trouble, please can you come and help me?”
It carried pictures of a gaunt-looking Gascoigne being helped into an ambulance by police and paramedics.
Since retiring from top-level football, former midfielder Gascoigne — who played for Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Italian giants Lazio and Glasgow Rangers, as well as helping England reach the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup, has suffered with alcoholism problems and has had several spells in treatment clinics, most recently in January.
He last played professionally a decade ago when he made five appearances for then English fourth-tier club Boston United.
Gascoigne was fined £1,000 (1,250 euros) by British magistrates last August after assaulting a railway guard who tried to stop him falling on to the line while drunk.
His latest health scare came after it emerged he had been signed up to play for a local non-league Sunday side.
Chris Foster, the manager of Abbey FC, is also a taxi driver who has picked up Gascoigne on several occasions.
“I have picked him up a few times and spoken to him about signing for us. Although he laughed it off, he didn’t say no,” Foster told the Bournemouth Daily Echo on Thursday.
“I dropped him off at his flat a couple of weeks ago and he asked me to go to the shop to get him some cigarettes. When I got back, I was invited in and we had a good chat about various things.
“I gave him the cigarettes and pulled out the signing-on form at the same time. He signed it there and then. I was chuffed to bits and ran to the car as fast as I could,” Foster added.