Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne gives his brutal verdict on Scottish football

FORMER England international and Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne says his playing days in Ibrox gave him some career highlights, but admitted he could have played “BLINDFOLDED”.

Gascoigne joined Rangers in 1995 from Lazio for a club-record fee, as he aimed to get his career back on track after a tough period in Rome.

And it wasn’t too long before he found what he was looking for, scoring 19 goals in his first season at the club.

He stormed his way through the competition, scoring a memorable hat-trick against Aberdeen to clinch the league title with a game to spare.

Gascoigne confessed that the standard of the league allowed him to show just what he was capable of.

And in an interview with the Rest is Football podcast, Gascoigne confessed that the standard of the league allowed him to show just what he was capable of.

He said: “The highlight of my career was when I went to Scotland.

“The press said I wouldn’t do well up there. I played blindfolded up there, Jesus Christ!

“I remember playing once, a kid was going to get the better of us. I scored two against him, won 2- 1. I remember after the game, I went into the dressing room, took my boots off, give him them and said, ‘One day you’ll f****** play like that’ and walked out. So I ruined him.”

“To score the hat-trick, because I’d never really won a championship medal. The FA Cup final [with Tottenham Hotspur], I only played about 12 minutes [due to injury]. So to score a hat-trick to win the league for Rangers was an unbelievable feeling.

“That was some highlight. I just remember going to collect all of the awards: I won players’ player, I won sports writers’ player of the year. I cleaned up the first year.”

Gascoigne continued to reap the fruits of his labour in hes second season in Glasgow, as he collected a league and cup double, inspired by a bizarre half time team talk during the 1996 Scottish Cup final against Hearts, which Rangers went on to win 4-3.

He said: “I remember, we were playing the Scottish [League] Cup final. I didn’t have the best of first halves and Archie Knox went, ‘Have you had a drink?’ I said, ‘No’. He went, ‘Go and get one’.

“So I remember going in the directors’ box, ‘Give us a tripe brandy, that’s nice, give us another couple, I had nine brandies,” he added.

“I went back to the dressing and they asked me, ‘Have you had a drink?’ I said. ‘Yeah, gaffer’, and they said, ‘Get out there and do the business’. I scored two in 10 minutes, I was f****** brilliant!”

Gascoigne collected four trophies in his three years in Glasgow, but admits that he regretted leaving without being able to make his mark on the European stage.

He said: “We played with 18 internationals. I think that’s the reason why we didn’t really do well for Rangers in the Champions League

“It is because, imagine, one minute you’re playing against Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle, and then in the next game in the Champions League, you’re playing against Ajax.

I think that’s why we struggled [to adjust] as much in the Champions League.”

Gascoigne left Rangers in 1998, making a move to Teeside to join Middlesbrough, whilst missing out on a space in the England squad for the upcoming World Cup.

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