2003
It’s 20 years since Paul Gascoigne landed in the Chinese second tier, but his stay didn’t last long.
By late-January 2003, Gazza was nearly 36 and had been without a club since leaving First Division Burnley in April of the previous year. The former Spurs and Lazio midfielder headed to the US to train at a DC United side coached by fellow Gateshead boy Ray Hudson, only for a deal to fall through before he spurned an offer to join Gillingham.
Soon he’d strayed to China, linking up with top-flight club Liaoning for training, but ended up having to drop down a division to sign for Gansu Tianma – based on the edge of the Gobi Desert in Lanzhou, reportedly one of the most polluted cities on Earth. “I still have something to give in football and I don’t give a s**t where,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s at the end of the world.”
Joining on a nine-month contract, Gazza initially built up his fitness while taking a coaching role, then scored 14 minutes into his debut in front of a 20,000 sell-out crowd in March. It proved to be one of just four appearances for the club, though, as the former England star grew bored of his surroundings.
Trying to catch koi carp with Jammie Dodgers (yes, really) outside his hotel quickly grew monotonous, so he popped to the local zoo and volunteered to help feed the tigers. Handed a horse’s head by zookeepers, he attempted to throw it into the tigers’ enclosure but missed and fed it to the nearby penguins instead. They didn’t even have a nibble.
After two months, his mental health issues and alcohol dependency resurfacing, G
