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Football

11th Aug 2018

Paul Gascoigne dismisses claims he was drunk during Soccer AM appearance

The England legend has rubbished claims that he was under the influence of alcohol

Darragh Murphy

Paul Gascoigne has dismissed claims that he was drunk during an appearance on Soccer AM, on Saturday morning.

On the opening weekend of the 2018/19 Premier League season, Gascoigne joined John Fendley, Jimmy Bullard and Lloyd Griffith for the popular programme but left the studio early.

Coming back from a break, host Fendley revealed that the England legend had been feeling unwell and had no choice but to cut his appearance short.

“Gazza was here earlier but he was not feeling wonderful, he’s left us and we’ll catch up with him very soon. We wish you all the very best mate!” Fendley said.

Gascoigne looked to be in a great mood up to that point, joking about his pouting selfies on Instagram and messing about with Bullard, but he must have taken a turn in the ad break.

Given his previous issues with alcohol abuse, Gascoigne took to Twitter shortly after the episode to rubbish some viewers’ suggestions that he had been drinking.

The former Newcastle and Spurs midfielder insisted that he just had a bad reaction to sleeping pills and was feeling ill.

https://twitter.com/Paul_Gascoigne8/status/1028229250116186112

In truth, the 51-year-old looked considerably healthier than he has in recent years and most fans were thrilled to see Gascoigne in such great spirits as he joked with the presenters and shared some of his hilarious stories on the couch.

While he may have been under the weather, Gascoigne’s sense of humour was on full display in the early segments of the episode.

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