02 June 2023 , 17:08
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Former England and West Ham star Julian Dicks has bemoaned the “f****** wrong decision” to room with Paul Gascoigne after a series of chaotic pranks.
The ex-Spurs and Rangers playmaker became as known for his jokey personality as he did for his skill on the pitch. The now 56-year-old made 57 appearances for the Three Lions, scoring ten goals.
Ex-teammate Dicks found himself on the brutal end of Gascoigne’s pranks with the two having shared a room during their respective time with the England under-21s. Dicks volunteered to share with Gascoigne on a trip to Toulon.
Writing in a new book named Hammer Time, he revealed that he was regularly woken up in the middle of the night. He said: “No one put their hand up and I went, ‘Yeah, I'll share with him’. F***ing wrong decision. He would wake up in the night and put his a**e on my face.
“He put about 20 firecrackers around the rim of the toilet and they started going off and I thought it was a bomb. I'm naked and I am running down the corridor and he's just stood in the door, laughing his head off.
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“It was funny, although it wasn't at the time because I was standing in front of Dave Sexton and other people.”
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Whilst Dicks was on the wrong end of a few pranks from Gascoigne, former Arsenal star Paul Merson also shared his experience of living with the ex-England star. The pair shared accommodation during their Middlesbrough days and opened up on a dangerous game that they would play ahead of matchdays.
"We used to play a game every day bar Friday. We’d get back from training. We’d give my brother and Jimmy a load of money to go and get some bottles of red wine," Merson explained.
"We’d come back and put the red wine into these massive glass jugs then Gazza and my brother would sit on that seat and me and Jimmy would sit on this seat.
“We wouldn’t do it on a Friday because we played Saturday. Load of money on the coffee table and then we’d start drinking red wine.
“Every hour we’d pop a sleeping tablet and whoever fell asleep last picked the money off the table and went to bed.”
The pair’s boozey game did not harm Middlesbrough’s season at all as Merson and Gascoigne dovetailed to secure promotion to the Premier League. The latter would go on to join Everton and Burnley before a spell with Chinese side Gansu Tianma.
He then retired from the game in 2004 following a short stint as a player-coach with Boston United.