JACK IT IN?
Gareth Southgate has previously played down comparisons between Jack Grealish and Paul Gascoigne. It was increasingly difficult to avoid drawing one in the past week, though, as Manchester City tucked into a few drinks to celebrate their Champions League final success against Internazionale, a result that completed a trophy treble. Grealish, a skilful playmaker like Gascoigne, was exceptionally well-lubricated in the aftermath of that nervy 1-0 win in Istanbul. As he stumbled around between planes, trams and open-top bus parades, it evoked memories of some of the most “legendary” Gascoigne moments; visions of the great man sporting a pair of fake plastic breasts or burping into a microphone, all the while leaving the likes of his Lazio clubmate, Aaron Winter, astonished by his booze-fuelled routine.
When he was England manager, Graham Taylor once remarked that Gascoigne might do well to look at how he “refuelled” himself. And the abundantly talented Gascoigne’s drinking ultimately led him to a public battle with addiction (as well as, arguably, some of the injuries that hampered his career). That’s not to say Grealish is the same as Gascoigne, of course, or indeed that his career is heading in a similar direction. But as Southgate correctly said, there is a line.
