Gazza sectioned after breakdown in hotel

The sad plight of Paul Gascoigne, once one of England's finest football players, has come to light after he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act on Thursday. The player known to football fans as Gazza was arrested after a fracas with a night-porter at Newcastle's Malmaison hotel. Gascoigne had become "a potential menace" to other guests and the porter had "felt threatened" after the altercation, a hotel spokeswoman said. Early on Wednesday morning Gascoigne, who was living on the seventh floor, set off all the fire alarms and, as other guests were evacuated, refused to leave. He then checked into the nearby Hilton hotel where he was later arrested.

During his stay at the Malmaison, he reportedly spent hours in his room playing on a Nintendo Wii handheld computer game console, sometimes persuading staff to join him. When he did venture out of his room, the 40-year-old took to wandering the hotel with three battery-operated toy parrots, which played recorded messages. "He's been making them talk to the other guests for a laugh," one staff member said. "They say things like 'Give us a kiss' but also stronger stuff which isn't so funny."

He added: "Gazza's a regular, and almost everyone here couldn't like the guy more. But it's been more and more obvious he's not well. He's needed help." Another hotel worker claimed Gascoigne ordered plates of raw liver, insisting that it was good for his blood.

The player who made 57 appearances for England has been besieged by personal problems for more than a decade. Many incidents - such as his self-acknowledged beating of his ex-wife, Sheryl - were linked to heavy drinking. Gascoigne spawned Gazzamania when he burst into tears after receiving a yellow card in England's semi-final against West Germany in the 1990 World Cup.