Fans Are Furious With Paul Gascoigne For Inviting Young Fan Onto Pitch To Trip Him Up

Paul Gascoigne has been criticised online after tripping a young fan up on the pitch as a joke.

The England legend played for Rangers in a charity game against Luis Figo's World XI on Sunday afternoon, scoring in a ten minute cameo.

It was lovely to see 'Gazza' get on the scoresheet, but another incident during the day's festivities has emerged.

Gascoigne looks to have invited a youngster onto the Ibrox pitch to get involved and have a kick about with him.

The lad runs on with his own ball and Gascoigne tells him to go stand at the opposite end of the pitch.

As he runs away, the 54-year-old puts his leg out and trips the kid up who hits the deck in a heap.

He doesn't get up for quite some time despite Gascoigne checking up on him and another player or member of staff then approaches.

They help him to his feet as Gascoigne kicks his ball off the pitch.

Fans understand the exchange was only meant as a bit of fun, but feel it was wrong for the former Tottenham Hotspur man to behave in that way.

A statement has since been released by M&N Management, who have worked with Gascoigne since 2019, to explain the incident.

It reads: "M&N Management would like to make a correction on recent statements made by the papers.

"The 'young fan' who was 'tripped up' by Gazza at the weekend during the Rangers vs World XI game was in fact his agent's son.

"The two are constantly playing practical jokes on one another and play fighting.

"We confirm that no harm was caused."

Gascoigne replaced Michael Mols in the 80th minute and received a massive ovation from the crowd.

Alamy

The former midfielder spent three years in Scotland between 1995 and 1998.

Not long after coming on, he managed to score past former Premier League goalkeeper David James, who let's be honest, also played a big part in the strike.

It wasn't enough for Rangers however who ended up losing the game 3-2.

Shota Arveladze opened the scoring for the Gers before Carlos Marchena, Nuno Gomes and Ricardo Quaresma turned on the style.

Gascoigne grabbed his goal but it was too little too late.