Gazza: Fergie would have made me one of his legends
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Gazza: Fergie would have made me one of his legends had I joined United
Gascoigne in his days with Lazio
Paul Gascoigne claims he would have been a Manchester United legend if he had not snubbed the club as a youngster. Gascoigne, 41, says it was one of his greatest regrets that he did not sign for Sir Alex Ferguson, who admitted this week that ‘not getting Gazza’ was his biggest disappointment as a manager.
‘He was a fabulous footballer and he would have done brilliantly here,’ said the United boss in the New Statesman.
The young Gazza, then on the verge of joining United from Newcastle, was shown around the training ground but chose to join Tottenham instead - and when he contacted Ferguson years later, he says the Scot did not seem interested.
‘Maybe if I had stayed at Man U, I might have been still there,’ the former England midfielder tells Sky News tonight.
‘Look at young Rooney, the Neville brothers and Becks, the way he (Ferguson) just brought them on. I got invited to the academy and it is a magnificent place and you can see the way he treats his players, he treats them with respect but he also makes men out of boys.
Sir Alex Ferguson said in an interview that his biggest regret was not signing Paul Gascoigne
‘It took me six years to get back talking to Sir Alex. I called him from Lazio and asked him would he sign us. 'He was with Eric Cantona and he said he would see what Eric Cantona was going to do, but I think everyone knows if you do something to Sir Alex Ferguson the way I did, you don’t get a second chance.’
Gascoigne has great admiration for the current United squad, picking out Cristiano Ronaldo as the player he views as ‘the new Gazza’.
‘I think he is doing a lot better this year than he did last year, even though he doesn’t score as many goals. I think Sir Alex has made him a complete player.’
Gascoigne also revealed that he had recently been invited to visit Diego Maradona. ‘I got a call, they just said Maradona has invited us to stay with him. I said I’d just leave it because he was taking on the job of Argentina coach and he would be busy anyway.
‘In time I would love to manage Newcastle but you have got to take your badges, you have got to be strong. I am feeling really strong now.’
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Gazza manager of EPL club? interesting....