PAUL GASCOIGNE

PAUL GASCOIGNE

6. PAUL GASCOIGNE England

Only assured of his place in the squad after a brilliant performance against Czechoslovakia in April, it was Gascoigne who transformed England from the functional also-rans into potential winners.
Liberated by Bobby Robson’s switch to a sweeper system, he played with an impudence and intelligence, taking the free-kicks that led to the winners against Egypt and Belgium and generally giving England the sort of midfield control and creativity they’d been missing since Bobby Charlton retired.
His tears in the semi-final after picking up a booking that would have kept him out of the final seemed to usher in a new, more sensitive age.