GAZZA TELLS MIRROR HE HAS STILL NOT TACKLED DEMONS

I drink for the sake of it... It's hard to explain why

- EXCLUSIVE BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

PAUL Gascoigne admits that he has been unable to give up the booze after a lifetime of fighting his addiction.

The 58-year-old England footie legend said it was impossible to explain why he is unable to stop, despite the pain it causes himself and others.

In an unflinching account of his alcoholism, he told the Mirror how he still falls off the wagon, even though he has had stints in rehab.

Referring to other football stars who battled alcoholism, he told the Mirror: “Jimmy Greaves stopped drinking, but that is Jimmy Greaves. I am not Jimmy Greaves and I am not George Best.

“I don't get drunk because I hate my mum and dad or I hate the public. It is not about that. I do it for the sake of it, it is hard to explain why.

“I might regret it. But I don’t think about yesterday, I don't think about tomorrow. I just think about today and live for today.”

He joked that his loving mum Carol, 82, is the only person on the planet who calls him Paul instead of Gazza.

Of the pain his addiction has caused his family, he said: “I have not changed, I cannot change, I would not know how to change.

“I will probably die as Gazza. But I have nothing to hide. The whole country knows what I have done now.

HURT

“I drank because I wanted to drink, I regretted the consequences afterwards. Now if I have a relapse, I do not go for weeks on end like I did before.

“Looking back, I must have hurt my mum and dad. But you do not think about it. The person you hurt the most is yourself.”

Sporting a goatee and looking lean and fit, he has been in a reflective mood working on his new book Eight, which is published by Mirror Books.