Paul Gascoigne

Often described as a footballing "genius", and cited by his former teammate Chris Waddle in 2018 as England's last "real creative midfield player", Paul Gascoigne, usually referred to simply as "Gazza", started his career at Newcastle United, where he played in 92 games and scored 21 goals. He then went to the London club Tottenham Hotspur, where he also played in 92 games and scored nearly as many goals, 19 in total. It was while at Tottenham that he was first called up to the England squad by manager Bobby Robson. He was a key member of England's 1990 FIFA World Cup team that reached the semi-finals, which was the best run of an England team since they won the 1966 World Cup. He became something of a national hero during the tournament due to his sparkling performances, with Bobby Robson later saying that he had been the best young player of the tournament (although FIFA disagreed, awarding that honour to Yugoslavia's Robert Prosinecki). However, Gascoigne was recognized as England's star of the tournament when he finished fourth in the Ballon d'Or for 1990 behind Lothar Matthäus, Salvatore Schillaci and Andreas Brehme, while no other English player made it into the top ten. The next few years were a barren spell for England under the management of Robson's successor Graham Taylor, with an exit at the group stage of Euro '92 (which didn't feature Gascoigne due to injury) and failure to even qualify for the 1994 World Cup, which led to Taylor's sacking. However, between 1995 and 1998, Gascoigne had his best goalscoring spell while at the Scottish club Rangers, scoring 30 goals in 74 games. In 1996, England manager Terry Venables, who had previously managed Gascoigne at Tottenham, included him in the England squad for Euro '96, which was being held at home. Gascoigne won acclaim for a brilliant goal against Scotland and for his role in the astounding 4-1 defeat of the Netherlands, although he also narrowly missed an incredible chance to score a winning goal against Germany in the semifinal when he lunged for the ball in front of the goal and just failed to connect. England eventually lost the game in a penalty shootout following a miss from Gareth Southgate and Germany went on to the final, which they won against the Czech Republic. The next England manager, Glenn Hoddle, controversially decided not to include the 31-year-old Gascoigne in the England squad for the 1998 World Cup, citing his lack of fitness, and this marked the end of his England career, in which he played a total of 57 games and scored ten goals. He also left Rangers in 1998, moving to Middlesbrough, although he was no longer in his previous form, scoring just four goals in 41 games for the club. He also made 32 appearances for Everton between 2000 and 2002, and finished his career at Burnley, Gansu Tianma in China and Boston United. Despite never winning a major tournament with the national team, Gascoigne remains one of England's most iconic footballers and has been interviewed numerous times about his career, including for Piers Morgan's Life Stories (2009), Alan Shearer's Euro 96: When Football Came Home (2016) and Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager (2018).