‘When Terry Venables died, I was sat in the car and cried my eyes out. Terry was a f**king diamond. He had to be, to put up with me’ Paul Gascoigne on the manager he loved playing for most

Paul Gascoigne played for England for a decade and his 57 caps look like a meagre return when shorn of context.

Gazza missed years of his career with injury, tragically self-inflicted in one noteworthy case. International matches were more scarce and England inadvertently gave themselves the summer off in 1994.

Asked which of his England managers he most enjoyed playing for, Gazza does not hesitate. Terry Venables gets the vote in a heartbeat.

Paul Gascoigne on his relationship with Terry Venables

Venables has a unique place in the history of England managers. Taking over from Graham Taylor in 1994, Venables had a home tournament to look forward to without the pressures of a qualification campaign to navigate.

"Every day," Gascoigne tells FourFourTwo when asked to pick his favourite times with Venables as his England boss.

"When he died, I was sat in the car and cried my eyes out," adds Gascoigne.

"Terry was a f**king diamond. He had to be, to put up with me."

Venables, who managed Tottenham Hotspur – not just in the coaching sense – and Barcelona in his two jobs immediately before England, left the national team job after the European Championship in 1996.

England reached the semi-finals, losing on penalties against the Germany team that went on to win the final at Wembley against the Czech Republic.

Gascoigne was at the top of his game, scoring a magical goal against Scotland to put the cap on his renaissance at Rangers.

Gascoigne remains quick to anger over his treatment by Glenn Hoddle, whose decision to leave him out of England's World Cup squad in 1998 was a bitter body blow for one of England's true greats.

He understandably prefers to look back fondly at Hoddle's predecessor, a man who got the best from him by hook or by crook and recognised that Gazza still had so much to give.

Venables, known to millions as 'El Tel', managed the Australian national team, Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace for a second time.

He passed away at the age of 80 in November 2023, sparking heartfelt tributes from around the football world.