GARY Lineker looked to the England bench, tapped his temple several times and pointed towards a devastated Paul Gascoigne, tears cascading down his face.

The stakes could not have been higher, and Lineker knew that his side's chances of reaching the World Cup final hinged on the precarious state of Gazza's mind.

The England midfielder's dreams of appearing in the final had just been shattered by his second yellow card of the tournament, but he still played on to enhance his reputation as one of the world's most gifted footballers.

As Chris Waddle's penalty sailed over the crossbar against West Germany, and with it England's chances of emulating the 1966 side, Gazza broke down, weeping uncontrollably. The nation wept with him.

From that moment, 13 years ago, Paul Gascoigne became public property.

Photographers have followed his every move, journalists have searched his bins for any morsel of a story. Every facet of his controversial life has been put on under the microscope. Alcoholism, wife beating, kebabs -- no sportsman has amassed more newspaper column inches over the past decade.

Last night, Channel 4 screened the documentary 'Inside the Mind of Paul Gascoigne' in which it reeled out a number of players all eager to tell their tales of Gazza hi-jinx.

"Sometimes he'd sit there and drink a bottle of wine and have a fag on the way to training," mused Paul Merson.

Terry Butcher added: "He just couldn't switch off. If there were switches in Gazza, he would be like Battersea Power Station."

"He was like the naughty schoolboy at the back of the class," joked John Barnes.

The programme producers threw in a couple of psychologists for good measure, who pointed to three childhood traumas as the root cause of all his problems.

The picture was painted of a lonely, tormented soul -- a man, once a genius with a football, who is striving to desperately hold on to what he knows best.

It's easy to write Gazza off. It's easy to stand by and laugh as clubs from the lower reaches of the Third Division are linked with a move for him.

It's easy to nonchalantly watch documentaries on his life which look more like advanced obituaries.

But we owe Gazza more. Look at Bobby Moore - cast aside by football in the 90s, the tributes only came when it was too late.

We can't stand by and watch one of England's greatest players head for the scrapheap.

Let's be realistic. Football is a business, and few chairmen can afford to take the risk on a recovering alcoholic whose best playing days are behind him.

But Gazza can still have a role to play. He lights up when he's around a football. His depression and loneliness only kicks in when he can't find a role outside the game he loved all his life.

Get him involved in football at grassroots level. All that energy and enthusiasm cannot fail to rub off on youngsters trying to get into the game. Get him into schools, into the community, into coaching the kids.

We've all had a piece of Paul Gascoigne ever since that fateful semi-final in 1990. Now it's time to give something back.

The most famous non league club in the world? Exactly!

COMING from Liverpool, I'll forever be haunted by these six words: Accrington Stanley - who are they? Exactly.

If I had a pound for every time somebody chanted that slogan from the milk advert to me, I'd be able to give Roman Abramovich a run for his money.

This week, the cry has gone up from many Hyndburn residents angry that the local council is spending 'their' money by sponsoring Accrington Stanley - a deal worth £45,000 over the next three years.

How short-sighted can you get? Accrington Stanley has put the town on the world map. You could go to Australia and football fans would reel out three names: Liverpool, Manchester United and Accrington Stanley.

It's the most famous non league club in the world. A club to be proud of. And if that's not worth a couple of pennies from your community charge, I don't know what is.

Back the boss or I'll snitch on you!

WHAT A disgrace Keith Gillespie was for putting the boot in after leaving Blackburn Rovers for Leicester this week.

Don't get me wrong, the lad is entitled to have a pop at the manager and air his grievances.

But to drop his team-mates in it was unforgivable. By saying 10 to 12 other players felt the same way about Souness as he did, was like a schoolboy snitch dropping his mates in it with teacher.

Fight your own battles, Keith, the other players are big enough to look after themselves.

Blackburn's capture of Brett Emerton was a real coup.

I know Gerard Houllier has been tracking the Australian player for more than two years, and had him watched on several occasions.

For Rovers to get in ahead of the likes of Liverpool and Newcastle is a real sign of the times at Ewood Park.