Elland Road very nearly had the England legend playing in the Whites shirt in the 1990s.
Paul Gascoigne may have snubbed Leeds United for Glasgow Rangers during his playing career but the England legend retains a lot of love for the Whites and predicts big things for them, in conversation with the Yorkshire Post.
The midfielder had endured an injury-hit spell with Italian giants Lazio, and by the summer of 1995 they were keen to sell him, but before the Ibrox club got in contact, Leeds had sent director Bill Fotherby to Rome to meet with Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti.
The story goes that Fotherby got up the following morning, went for breakfast and picked up the La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper and was drawn to the headline: ‘Fotherby, managing director of Leeds United, here to sign Gascoigne’, which in turn ended up with Rangers pushing harder to sign him and eventually succeeding.
Joking about how he got “hammered” by the Leeds fans as the next England game was at Elland Road, as well as sharing other times the fans successfully put him off his game while playing for the opposition, Gascoigne expressed his love for the club and the fans.
“Every time I go to do a venue in Leeds, the fans are absolutely brilliant. It is like a home town to me,” he said. “I watched a documentary on Leeds when they beat Manchester United to win the league and Leeds is a huge, huge club and I do think that one day, something might happen at Leeds which is similar to Manchester City with some big chairman coming in with loads of cash and investing in that club.
“Leeds is a sleeping giant and that team will come good again and the supporters are second to none. Every time I do a venue there, it is packed and the supporters are fantastic. Not so long ago I had 1,600 people there and it showed how much that club is a sleeping giant. I feel welcome every time I go there; I don’t know why.”
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