Paul Gascoigne opens up on childhood tragedy of ‘cuddling pal in coffin’

Paul Gascoigne has heartbreakingly mirrored on the childhood tragedy which noticed his pal’s youthful brother die in his arms.

Footy followers know Gazza because the fun-loving star who lit up the pitch together with his superior abilities. But lengthy earlier than he grew to become an England legend, the maverick had to deal with a troubling ordeal aged simply 12.

Heading to a boys membership with pal Keith Spraggon, Gascoigne took duty for bringing his sibling Stephen, 10, with them. “We went to the shop and there was an ice cream van outside the shop,” he recalled on the High Performance Podcast.

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“I said ‘come on, quick, we’re going to be late’. He ran ahead of us, it was only one yard, and when he went past that ice cream van, it hit him.

“He went about 30 yards. I ran down, Stephen, I used to be speaking to him, he had his head on me lap, and his lips shifting. I assumed he was going to be alright, however he wasn’t, that was his final actions.”

Gascoigne stayed with him for 20 minutes before the emergency services arrived. The experience left him deeply impacted, suffering with tics for years before eventually speaking to a specialist.

They cleared up after he pretended to talk to Stephen in one of many periods, saying how he’d wished it had been him who was hit by the ice cream van as a substitute. Gazza had lengthy blamed himself for his loss of life.

He nonetheless remembers seeing Stephen once more on the household residence earlier than the funeral. “I was like 12 years of age, picking a dead body out of a coffin,” he continued.

“Kissing and cuddling him and saying ‘sorry’, and then putting him back down. And then I stayed in that room for a few days. It was a few sleepless nights. It was horrific.”