"People talk about me being a bit of a joker, messing about, but we had about 15 in that squad."
Paul Gascoigne
Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman on board a train, British Transport Police said on Monday. The ex-Tottenham and Lazio player was charged with "one count of sexual assault by touching", said a spokeswoman for the force. The 51-year-old, who has struggled with alcoholism since he retired from top-flight football, was arrested at Durham station in northeast England on August 20. He is due to appear in a magistrates' court on December 11. Gascoigne -- known as "Gazza" -- made his name with Newcastle before going on to play for Tottenham, Italian giants Lazio and several other teams including Glasgow Rangers.
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The midfielder, widely regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation, was also a key member of the England side that reached the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He won 57 caps in total. Gascoigne was one of the first big-name footballers to arrive in China when he made the shock decision to be a player-coach of second division Gansu Tianma in 2003 but he lasted just a handful of games. In 2016, he was fined and ordered to pay compensation by a court after making a racist comment to a black security guard at his "An Evening with Gazza" show.
In an interview published on Tottenham's website last year he said: "Sometimes when I look back and people say to me 'do you regret anything in your career?' "Perhaps I left Spurs too early. I loved it there. The players, the staff, everyone was class and the team spirit was phenomenal, absolute class. We had a great team. "People talk about me being a bit of a joker, messing about, but we had about 15 in that squad." Last month Gascoigne's nomination for a place in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame was withdrawn, with officials expressing concerns over his state of his health.
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