Former Claret goes down under

Last updated : 10 September 2002 By Tony Scholes
His agent Ian Elliott dismissed the very thought of Gascoigne playing 3rd Division football when York were linked with him and that meant it would have been a big climb down to even look at offers from Darlington and Exeter.

America came a calling until they saw the lack of fitness and that ruled out a move to join DC United in Washington to play in the US Major Soccer League.

Where would it be next, well there was an offer from his former Spurs colleague Graham Roberts to sign for his club Carshalton who play in the Rymans League but that fell through too.

Just when it looked as though Gazza's playing career had ended with his short spell at Turf Moor came a call from the other side of the world and the chance to play for Auckland Kingz. The Kingz are one of a small number of clubs in the country and as such have to play their football off native soil, they play in the Australian Premier League in the hope to regain some level of fitness.

Whether he achieves that remains to be seen but if he does stick it out then keep a look out for Auckland Kingz next summer when you are doing the Aussie Pools.