Paul Gascoigne Received A Brutal, X-Rated Letter From Sir Alex Ferguson After Man Utd U-Turn

Paul Gascoigne has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson's brutal reaction to him turning down Manchester United for Tottenham Hotspur at the last minute.

Ferguson was desperate to sign Gascoigne in the 90s and he says missing out on the England international is his greatest regret.

A move was close before Tottenham offered to buy Gascoigne's parents a house - and Ferguson wasn't happy.

'Gazza' told talkSPORT in a recent interview: "I was getting fan mail by the dozens and I got this big one, it was from Sir Alex Ferguson.

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"He hammered me, 'You stupid, fat b******'. He told me he had the choice to be manager of Barcelona and Real Madrid - but he chose the biggest club in the world.

"It took him six years to speak to me again."

Gascoigne then explained how he'd had a chat with Ferguson and agreed to join the Red Devils before changing his mind.

The 54-year-old continued: "Sir Alex said, 'So I'm going on holiday, when I come back you'll have signed for Man United, you'll be at Old Trafford?'

"I told him, 'Yes, definitely'. I was so excited. In two days, I was going to sign for Man United, they were going to pay the £2.2m.

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"Then the phone went and it was Spurs.

"My dad said, 'You're not signing for Spurs, you're signing for Man United'. I said that to the chairman.

"He said, 'We'll buy your mum and dad a house'. I told my dad and he went, 'Well what the hell are you waiting for, son? Tell him I need a car. I want a BMW and also I'll find the house'.

"He hadn't even left the settee! As I'm driving to Tottenham, I went past Old Trafford and I was actually shaking.

"I thought, 'He's going to go off on it with me, Sir Alex Ferguson'. I was petrified.

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"I was a mile away from Spurs and I get a call from my sister, she said, 'If mum and dad are getting a house, I want a sunbed!' So I think the deal was done on a sunbed."

United went on to dominate English football for a decade while Gascoigne won one FA Cup with Tottenham.

When asked about the lack of silverware in his legendary career, Gascoigne replied: "The first season, we did better than Man United, so I thought that was OK. But the next year, he started playing [David] Beckham, [Paul] Scholes, [Nicky] Butt, they won the league by a mile.

"That's when I thought, 'Wow - I could've been there'.

"Sometimes I do look back at the amount of stuff they achieved with Sir Alex.

"There are times I look back and think what it would've been like if I was at Man United."

Topics: Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, Paul Gascoigne

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_