Bryan Robson recounts Gascoigne tale

Gascoigne claimed Robson’s tournament was ended due to a toe injury, which he sustained in an incident at the team hotel. However, this was not the case, as Bryan has previously clarified in his own book, Robbo: My Autobiography.

“Gazza always said I broke my toe but I didn’t,” he reiterated. “Otherwise, I’d never have played in the first game. We were all having a bit of daft banter around the hotel and I tipped Gazza off his bed. But the bed slipped and landed on my toe and took a bit of the toenail off. So it was very sore for the first game and I needed a pain-killing injection in my toe to get through the game. That was what happened.

“Honestly, Gazza was nuts. Sometimes, he could always be well over the top but, at certain times, when you’re away for six or eight weeks preparing for a World Cup, you need someone like Gazza around, who is doing daft things that make you amused.

“He was in great form for that World Cup, just because it was his first major competition, so he was full of it – tipping people off beds and everything, playing tennis when he shouldn’t have been and playing golf when he shouldn’t have been. Bobby had a nightmare with him!”