Paul Gascoigne is the man who instigated the chain of events that made the Premier League what it is today. That’s according to legendary sports broadcaster Danny Kelly.
Danny Kelly, appearing on the Football Ramble podcast, spoke about his experience as a fan who’s been around since the 70’s.
He discussed the evolution of football culture at the time and outlined the turning point between ‘old’ and ‘modern’ football. The seminal moment, according to Danny Kelly, was when England midfielder Paul Gascoigne cried in the 1990 World Cup.
Now an iconic image, Paul Gascoigne burst into tears when it became apparent that England would lose their semifinal to West Germany. According to Danny Kelly, that is what changed football from an unsavoury pastime to a global soap opera.
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“I think there’s been a continuous and exponential expansion and growth of football since one particular moment,” said Kelly.
“I’ll hear no argument against this – Paul Gascoigne’s tears in the semifinal of the 1990 World Cup.
“Every footballer who’s currently earning north of 50 grand a week, which is every footballer, needs to get down on their knees every morning and pray to a picture of Paul Gascoigne and say ‘thank you Paul.’ Despite all his failings, there should be writers to the Vatican every week asking ‘Can you make this man a saint’?
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“TV companies had already noticed the figures for the 1990 World Cup. England’s team were a drama. They changed halfway through the tournament from a back four to a back five and all the rest of it. It was drama. Gascoigne was drama. Gary Lineker was Erroll Flynn up front. And they realized they were getting a lot of middle class traction and a lot of female traction from this. When Gascoigne cries in the semifinal when he realizes he’s not going to make the final, somewhere in the buildings of Australia and America they thought ‘- ha! Football, that’s the thing.’ Paul Gascoigne’s tears water the seeds of the Premier League.”
