Former Tottenham Hotspur football club captain Gary Mabbut has detailed his efforts to help ex-teammate Paul Gascoigne in his struggle with manic depression and alcoholism, seeking to publicly pressure authorities to keep "Gazza" committed to a health institution until he is completely cured.
Mabbut is desperate to halt Gascoigne's "self-destruction" and has spearheaded efforts to get him treatment for his addiction and depression.
The disclosure on Tottenham's website comes two days after the 41-year-old Gascoigne was detained on Sunday by police under the Mental Health Act for the second time in four months. He was released on Monday, but voluntarily returned to hospital.
"Since Paul was first sectioned in February a number of people came together quietly - the club, both directly and through the Tottenham Tribute Trust, the FA (Football Association), and the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association), to provide support both practical and financial - and to work, along with his friends and family, with his specialists to get the best treatment for him," Mabbut wrote.
"We were able to get treatment for Paul at the Priory and other clinics, but the problem was that when he was sober he would discharge himself only to relapse again.
"He was on the road to self-destruction so, after making every effort to protect his privacy, it was decided that we must enter the public domain in order to put some pressure through the media on the powers that be to have him sectioned."
Mabbut has highlighted the gravity of the former England star's plight.
"Paul is not just an alcoholic, that is not the situation," he said. "He suffers from several disorders, including manic depression, that add to a pretty nasty cocktail of things going on in his head."
Gascoigne's sister Anna is increasingly worried about the 1990 World Cup star, who played 57 times for England in a career blighted by injuries.
"He's been drinking, I believe, to escape, to get away and it's been a vicious circle," Anna Gascoigne told British broadcaster ITV. "I have feared for his life, especially I would say the last couple of weeks."
