THE Scottish Football Hall of Fame have withdrawn their nomination for Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne to be inducted.
It was announced last week that the former England star would join some of the greatest names in the history of our game and be rewarded for his contribution during his Ibrox career.
Gascoigne joined Rangers from Lazio in 1995 and became one of the finest players ever to grace the Scottish game as he helped the Light Blues clinch nine-in-a-row.
But he has never been far from off-field controversy and the midfielder, who has suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, allegedly assaulted then-wife Sheryl at the Gleneagles Hotel in 1996.
Two years ago, he was convicted of racially aggravated abuse and it has been ruled that he will now not take his place alongside former team-mates Andy Goram, Richard Gough and Ally McCoist and boss Walter Smith.
A statement on behalf of the SFHOF read: “Further to consultation with the chair and members of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame committee, due to a number of factors including ongoing enquiries, and concerns over the state of Paul’s health, it has been decided to withdraw the nomination of Paul Gascoigne at this time from this year’s nomination process.”
Gazza was due to be one of five famous faces honoured in Glasgow this month after his name was put forward by members of the public and he was selected by a panel.
READ MORE Neil Cameron: why invite Paul Gascoigne to a boozy dinner?
The nomination of the 51-year-old proved controversial, however, and reports suggested that some members of the Scottish FA board would decline their invitation to the dinner on Sunday, October 21.
The SFA have no say in who is put forward or inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, which is separate from the Association’s own HoF that grants entry to players that earn 50 caps for national side or ‘who have made a significant contribution to the game’.
Former Scotland striker Julie Fleeting, who scored 116 goals in 121 appearances for the Women’s side, will be honoured at the event, while three other nominees will be revealed on the night.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel