Paul Gascoigne - Early Life

Early Life

Gascoigne was born in the Dunston area of Gateshead, England. He played for the local Redheugh Boys' Club despite being under-age. He later attended Breckenbeds Junior High School, then the Heathfield Senior High School, both in the Low Fell area of Gateshead.

He was noticed by football scouts while playing for Gateshead Boys, though failed to impress in a trial at Ipswich Town. Further trials at Middlesbrough and Southampton also proved unsuccessful, before Newcastle United signed him as a schoolboy in 1980. He was signed on as an apprentice at Newcastle in 1983, initially playing for the youth team under Colin Suggett.

While Gascoigne was successful on the football field, his childhood was marked by instability and tragedy. Initially his family lived in a single upstairs room in a council house with a shared bathroom, and moved several times during Gascoigne's early life. When he was ten, Gascoigne witnessed the death of Steven Spraggon, the younger brother of a friend, who was knocked down by a car. Around this time, his father began to suffer from seizures. Gascoigne began developing obsessions and twitches, and was taken into therapy at age ten, but soon quit the therapy sessions after his father expressed doubts over the treatment methods.

Gascoigne developed an addiction to gaming machines, frequently spending all his money on them, and also began shoplifting to fund his addiction. Death made another appearance in his life when a friend, whom he had encouraged to join Newcastle United from Middlesbrough, died whilst he was working for Gascoigne's uncle on the building sites. At the age of 15, he took the decision to provide for his family – his parents and two sisters – financially, as he saw professional football as a way of earning more money than the rest of the family were capable of.