‘I roomed with Paul Gascoigne – he’d wake me up at 4am and just lived on his nerves’
Alan Smith has lifted the lid on sharing a room with Paul Gascoigne during their time as England team-mates.
The two former Three Lions internationals played together once during their playing careers, sharing the pitch for 10 minutes during a friendly away to Saudi Arabia in November 1988. Smith also shared a room with Gascoigne during a stay at Burnham Beeches and has now lifted the lid on what it was like to share with the former Tottenham Hotspur man.
Speaking to BestGamblingSites, Smith recalled: “[Gazza] was just so different. I roomed with him on one occasion at Burnham Beeches and he just never sat still.
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“I was lying on my bed watching TV and he was just in and out all afternoon, all night, playing table tennis, snooker, cards – whatever you want. He just couldn’t sit still!
“He woke me up at 4am one night watching Ceefax looking at the news. I said, ‘what you doing Gazza, it’s 4am?’ He goes ‘I can’t sleep!’. And he couldn’t, he just lived on his nerves.
“He was an amazing character and I was lucky enough to play with him at his peak really. Training against him, he was so quick! We used to play four v four in boxes and his acceleration over a couple yards along with his strength to hold people off was amazing.
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“He’d lend the ball and play that one-two – it was brilliant to see him at close quarters. We often say there’ll never be anyone like him, and I think with Gazza that couldn’t be more true. He was a one off.”
Smith was never able to room with Gascoigne during a major tournament, though, with the two players never included in an England squad together for a World Cup or European Championship.
Gascoigne missed Euro 92 due to a knee injury he had suffered in the FA Cup final a year earlier, with the tournament marking Smith’s only inclusion in a major tournament squad.
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A two-time title winner with Arsenal, Smith also finished as First Division top scorer twice in his career, but only won 16 caps for England, scoring three goals.
As for Gascoigne, he tallied 10 goals in 57 international appearances, which included starring in England’s run to the semi-finals at both Italia 90 and Euro 96.
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