Considered by many to be one of the best natural footballing talents to pull on an England jersey, Paul Gascoigne lit up the hearts and captured the imaginations of many fans and aspiring players.
His ability on the pitch was matched by his infectious personality and energy off it; well-liked by everyone he met, he was also a clown with a need to entertain and often played hilarious pranks on his teammates.
One such incident relates to the early nineties when ‘Gazza’ was playing for Tottenham in what was arguably his most daring prank.
The Backstory Of The Prank
Gazza essentially, not only liked to make his teammates laugh, but shock as well and many of his pranks were borderline ridiculous. At the time, it wasn’t a secret that Spurs were looking for a fast, leggy striker and Gazza delivered in a way that only he could.
Turning up to the club’s old Cheshunt training ground, with an ostrich, dressed in a Tottenham number eight shirt, yielded exactly the kind of response that Gazza was looking for.
There was a second of disbelief greeted with complete amusement after Gazza let the animal go and it started to run riot, charging at and out-sprinting players, disrupting cones and generally causing all kinds of chaos, while being in a completely foreign environment and obviously confused state.
Paul Gascoigne once stole an ostrich from a zoo, dressed it in a number 8 shirt and let it loose at training. It took him 4 hours to catch it.
In honour of his 55th birthday, here are 10 more hilarious Gazza stories… 👇 pic.twitter.com/nVA0UkOJaj
— The Upshot podcast (@UpshotTowers) May 26, 2022
While the players found it funny, the coaching staff, who had to round the seven-foot bird up were not amused as Gazza’s antics reached another level. It was understood that he had “borrowed” the bird from a zoo, while other accounts suggest that he knew someone who owned exotic animals; either way, the mischievous Geordie’s imagination clearly went into overdrive.
How And Why Gazza’s Pranks Were Tolerated
Spurs manager Terry Venables, knew with Gazza that he had a player on his hands who needed to be handled with care. Ultimately, he played best when he was happy and what made Gazza happy was making others around him laugh.
It is understood that this is why Venables tolerated so many of the player’s antics, because he was a ‘special’ player who could do the unthinkable when he was ‘in the zone’. Reports suggest though, that Venables was often stuck between exasperation and genuine amusement about some of his pranks, but he generally let many things slide if Gazza was performing on the pitch.
Gazza was also seen as “the glue” that helped to keep the squad together and morale high in the dressing room; an important factor for a big football club and there is no doubt that many players of other teams would have loved to have been a part of it.
There is no doubt that Gazza was one of those ‘once in a blue moon’ players that some teams have/had in the past, where, due to their ability on the football pitch, they could very rarely put a foot wrong. Sir Alex Ferguson had Eric Cantona at Manchester United, who had more of a ‘maverick’ personality about him, but whose questionable acts were often forgiven.
