When Walter Smith gave Paul Gascoigne a week off at Rangers, he had just one instruction:
“Stay out of the papers.”
So Gazza headed to London, where he stayed with Chris Evans and Danny Baker.
On the very first evening, he decided he fancied doing something a bit daft.
They jumped into Chris Evans’ chauffeur-driven Bentley and headed into the West End.
Near Marble Arch, they pulled up in front of a double-decker bus and brought it to a stop.
Gazza got out, climbed into the driver’s seat, and somehow persuaded the driver to let him take the wheel.
Before long, he had the entire bus singing:
“We’re all going on a summer holiday.”
Still not satisfied, he handed the bus back — only to spot some road workers nearby.
The next thing he knew, he was wearing a hard hat and ear defenders, having a go on a pneumatic drill in the middle of Oxford Street.
“I hadn’t realised they were so heavy.”
Then he stopped a taxi driver and offered him a signed England shirt in exchange for a turn behind the wheel.
The driver agreed.
Chris hopped in the back and Gazza set off, eventually pulling over to ask a passer-by for directions.
“You won’t believe who I’ve got in the back of my cab.”
The man leaned in to look.
“It’s Chris Evans!”
He stared for a second before replying:
“Nah, it f****** isn’t.”
“It’s a wind-up.”
The following evening, they went out again.
Chris was wearing shorts, slippers and a T-shirt.
Gazza? A dressing gown — and nothing else.
Driving around, drinking in the back and shouting at people, Gazza suddenly spotted Noel Gallagher’s house in Hampstead.
He told Chris he knew Noel and had been there before.
Chris smirked.
“If you know him so well, go and knock on his front door and ask him to come out to play.”
Gazza got out.
The car drove off.
Now he was standing outside Noel Gallagher’s house in just a dressing gown, knocking on the door… alone.
No answer.
It was getting cold.
He asked a passer-by if he could come in to warm up.
“Certainly not.”
“I’m Paul Gascoigne. You know, Gazza.”
“Never heard of him.”
He then spotted someone watching from an upstairs window across the road.
Gazza waved and mimed making a cup of tea.
The man simply laughed and waved back.
By now, he had no money, no lift, and was starting to worry.
Eventually, Chris Evans rolled back into the street in the Bentley, crying with laughter.
Some of the papers did end up picking up the story.
But when Gazza returned to Rangers, fearing the worst, Walter Smith wasn’t exactly furious.
In fact, he was almost impressed.
“By Gazza’s standards, that was a quiet week off.”
Rick Astley and the Foo Fighters perform "Never Gonna Give You Up" in the style of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", after Dave Grohl spotted Rick on the side of the stage (since they were performing the same 2017 event) and just pulled him in to do the song.
Oh, this is oh so glorious…wonderful…
“I can’t put myself in the mentality of that person. I can’t put myself in that place. We’re playing Portugal that night and he’s out there in 30 degree heat playing head tennis. He’s excited! We’re playing Figo and Ronaldo…he can’t wait…and I’m nervous…”
Gary Neville on Wayne Rooney…2004 Euros…
Excitement…Enthusiasm…Enjoyment
In my new book, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞, I take a very similar approach to competitive motivation. I suggest that motivation is heightened by building personal excitement for the game ahead. I suggest searching for what enthuses you about competitive games under pressure. And I suggest enjoying every single second…
…every single second…
…of executing every action as you play.
Excitement…Enthusiasm…Enjoyment
Imagine now, if you will, a young Wayne Rooney…2004 Euros…competing against the world’s best with…
Excitement…Enthusiasm…Enjoyment
Such a competitive attitude…such competitive motivation loads onto the three mental skills I identify in the book as being the three most important…
Attention
Intensity
Intent
Imagine these…
Imagine yourself into that mindset…that body…that approach…that attitude…
What does that look like?
What does that feel like?
What will others see?
In my new book 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞, I teach you how to play with a High Attention, an Optimal Intensity, and a High Intent. And I use excitement, enthusiasm, and enjoyment as three forms of competitive motivation to help you get there.
A last point…
I’m not ignoring Gary Neville’s socio-cultural take on Wayne Rooney’s upbringing. He came from a place where he had to fight (perhaps literally some of the time). People from all manner of backgrounds can be successful…but Rooney enveloped skill with will. He combined warrior with artist. His mind and body aching to fight daily…
In 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞, I teach you how to take control and take charge. I teach you how to find a mindset that asserts yourself on yourself…so you can assert your game on the game. I teach you how to refuse to give-in. To go again and again and again and again. High Attention, Optimal Intensity, High Intent…
*******************************
𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬…
Former OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue admits she felt sick watching a documentary about her exploits in front of her dad:
"It was me showing my p*ssy, saying, I've just been railed by X amount of people.
This is the first time my family have really been exposed to this."
Writer: Ian
🚨 Piers Morgan Exposes Hypocrisy of UK Politicians Over Taking the Knee for George Floyd But Not Henry Nowak
In a discussion with Simon Jordan, Piers Morgan called out UK politicians who rushed to take the knee for American George Floyd but haven’t done the same over the tragic case of British teenager Henry Nowak.
“We’re seeing a little bit now in the news with this young boy Henry Novak who got murdered.
When it was George Floyd in America, we had British politicians taking the knee over George Floyd.
But here you have a very, very similar situation where due to the behavior of appalling police work, we’ll never know whether they could have helped save this boy’s life, but they went out of their way not to, and it was a disgraceful stain on the British police and on our country.
But I haven’t seen yet any politicians take the knee for Henry Novak.
Why would you do it for something that happened in America but you won’t do for something that happened on our own doorstep?”
The selective outrage says it all. Virtue signalling seems reserved for narratives that fit, not for uncomfortable tragedies demanding real answers here at home.