Princess Diana walks onto the Wembley pitch and waits to be introduced to the Tottenham players. Prince Charles will do the honours with Nottingham Forest. One man more than any other is responsible for Spurs being here at the 1991 FA Cup Final. Paul Gascoigne. The most famous footballer in the country has been inspired for Tottenham in every round. This will be his last match in the English game before he moves to Lazio. Serie A will provide him with the platform to prove if he is ready to succeed the increasingly troubled Diego Maradona as the world's best. But that's all for the future. Today is about winning a first senior medal.
As the royal party works its way down the line of Tottenham players, Gascoigne can barely control himself. He's already broken protocol by kissing the Duchess of Kent's hand and now with Princess Diana in earshot, he's shouting "Where's FA Cup ears?". Gary Mabbutt, the Spurs captain's cheeks are flushed with embarrassment, but there's nothing to be done. Mabbutt has seen this all before from Gazza many times. Last night at the team hotel, Gascoigne had worked himself into such a frenzy the club doctor was called to inject him with a sedative. But if Tottenham are to win today, they'll need Gazza at his exuberant, irrepressible and sometimes manic best.
Referee Roger Milford blows his whistle. Spurs kick-off, wearing a brand new kit with unusual knee-length baggy shorts. Forest skipper Stuart Pearce does not approve. The ball is played back to Erik Thorstvedt in the Tottenham goal. The Norwegian picks it up and launches a long punt down the middle. A scrappy few moments, see the ball break just inside the Tottenham half, on the far side from the Wembley tunnel and dugouts. Gascoigne is keen to make his mark. It's a 70 - 30 challenge in his favour with Forest's Gary Parker. Sweeping aggressively through the ball, Gascoigne's buries his studs into Parker's chest with such force that Parker is knocked from his feet and propelled backwards. There is a collective 'oh' from the Wembley crowd, Commentator Barry Davies calls it "an awful challenge." The showpiece final is 43 seconds old.
Gascoigne turns away from the prone Parker, his priority now is to avoid catching referee Milford's eye at all costs. He wipes his nose with his hand, repeating this for a second then a third time.
Milford's mind is racing. He remembers only too well the criticism his colleague Peter Willis received "for ruining the spectacle" when in 1985 he became the first referee to send a player off in the FA Cup final. On that occasion, the dismissal came deep into the second half, today we haven't even played a minute. Worse still it's Gascoigne. The post mortem of this will get magnified tenfold. The Forest players won't protest if I let him away with it, thinks Milford. Cloughie always instructs his players to respect the referee. But the rules are the rules Milford tells himself. Taking a deep breath, he calls Gascoigne towards him. He can see the fear in Gascoigne's boyish face.
Desperately Gascoigne grabs Milford's hand clutching it so tightly the referee cannot remove the red card held in his top pocket. Eventually, Milford prises his hand free, the flash of red elicits the sort of cheer usually reserved for a goal from half the stadium. Gascoigne's bottom lip is trembling, the tears begin to flow just as they had 12 months earlier for England in Turin. Gary Lineker is the first to Gascoigne. Gascoigne collapses into the striker's arms, burying his head into the embrace like the newly bereaved. Slowly Lineker walks his team-mate to the side of the pitch where Tottenham manager Terry Venables is waiting to take over. Lineker and Venables exchange a look. The younger man thinking this could have been avoided, you've indulged him too often and for too long. We all have.
Gascoigne can't bear to take a seat on the Tottenham bench. Instead, he makes his way to the dressing room. His head is hidden beneath a towel.
There he sits alone sobbing. The two cheers he hears in the 17th and 38th minutes of the first half only add to his pain. "When Pearce goes up to lift the FA Cup we'll be there" sing the Forest fans. There is to be no way back for the ten men of Spurs.
Nottingham Forest 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0.
At last Brian Clough has the one cup that has eluded him. The next day at the Forest victory parade, Clough announces to his adoring Nottingham public that he is retiring. Terry Venables would later reveal he'd suspected the final might be Clough's last game. As the two managers led their teams onto the Wembley field, Clough had asked Venables to hold his hand. Clough is awarded the OBE later in the year. The alcoholism that had come to so dominate his life, concealed by the glint of silverware.
Gascoigne marks his arrival in Rome by burping during a press conference and then in broken Italian complementing the club president on his daughter's figure. He also scores a beautiful free-kick to win on his Lazio debut.
12 months later ...
Graham Taylor looks around the dressing room in the Rasunda Stadium, Stockholm, where shortly England will play the hosts of Euro 92 in the final game of Group 1. His players are weary.
England have failed to score in their first two matches. In truth, they haven't even come close in two abysmal nil-nil draws. Anticipating failure, the editorial team of The Sun in their Wapping headquarters, have already mocked up a picture of Taylor's head superimposed onto a turnip. But there is still hope. Paul Gascoigne has been passed fit to play.
Gascoigne had injured himself before the squad flew out to Sweden, damaging ankle ligaments, in what, according to the press briefing, was a routine training ground accident. In reality, Gascoigne had landed badly attempting to hurdle a tennis net in the early hours of the morning at the team hotel. This on the very day that Taylor was due to announce his squad for the finals. Robbed of the team's other most creative influence, John Barnes, who'd been ruled out of Euro 92 with a ruptured Achilles, Taylor had been compelled to gamble on Gascoigne.
Taylor must now find the right words to raise an uninspired team. His gaze moves from captain Gary Lineker to Tony Daley before finally settling on Gascoigne. "In life, there are so many opportunities and they're all around us. Too many people never see them. But then there are the other people - generally life's winners - they see the opportunities, they go looking for them. And when they see them they grasp them. That's what you're facing here on the football field int'it. Go and take the fucking opportunity. It's there for you and you ring every little bit out of it. Ok?" It is a speech Taylor has used before, it is one he will make again. A bell rings on the dressing room wall. It's time.
Inside the first five minutes, Gascoigne collects the ball from Martin Keown, pivots and hits a long pass into the channel where David Batty has advanced from right-back. Batty helps the ball into the path of the onrushing Lineker. Lineker looks up and centres, targetting the space vacated by the retreating Swedish defence. David Platt swivels. He makes poor contact but sends a scuffer into the corner of Ravelli's net. An early lead to quiet a partisan crowd.
Gascoigne clenches both fists. But confidence remains fragile. At half-time with England's one-goal lead still intact, Taylor notes the lack of noise from his players. All except one.
Chances to seal the game have been missed. Daley, in particular, has erred twice, failing to find Lineker with a simple square pass when in behind the Swedish defence and then missing badly with a header.
Six minutes into the second half Sweden win a corner. Stefan Schwarz curls in a left-footed outswinger. Jan Eriksson meets it firmly with his head. Woods and Sinton somehow contrive to allow the ball to escape them both. We are all square in Stockholm. Sweden 1 England 1.
Turning to his assistant Lawrie McMenemy, Taylor says "This is going to be a test now. A real fucking test."
Sweden take control of the game, the English defence unable to pin down the lively Tomas Brolin and Martin Dahlin. It feels inevitable they will take the lead. On the bench, Taylor tells Alan Smith to warm up. He knows he will be pilloried if he substitutes his captain and England fail to progress. Not least because Lineker has announced his retirement from international football at the end of this tournament. Taylor is already mentally rehearsing his post-match interview, "I did it to get Gary and the whole team another game." He signals to Smith to take off his tracksuit top, the UEFA official is told it will be number 17 replacing number 10.
A roar from the crowd forces Taylor to look back to the pitch, the leggy Carlton Palmer has robbed Swedish captain Jonas Thern just inside the Swedish half. Palmer releases the ball to Gascoigne who is now driving at the Swedish defence. His arms jut out from his body as he fends off two, three and now four challenges. Gascoigne bursts into the box just as Joachim Bjorklund checks his path. The Portuguese referee instantly blows for a penalty. Gary Lineker spots up the ball, myriad thoughts flash through his mind. His last spot-kick for England had not gone well. With a chance to equal Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record, Lineker had tamely missed in a friendly against Brazil. The stakes now are much higher. Starting his run-up from the 18-yard box, Lineker sprints up to the ball and drives it firmly down the middle. Ravelli has dived early to his left. He waves a flailing leg in desperation but can't reach it. England 2 Sweden 1. The England bench erupts. Alan Smith reaches for his tracksuit top.
In the England dressing room at full-time, Taylor is more relieved than euphoric. In Wapping, The Sun's back page for tomorrow's paper is being laid out under the headline TAYLOR MADE. The subheader reads "Bring on the Germans". As Group 1 winners England will return to the Rasunda Stadium to play Germany in the first semi-final of Euro 92. Sweden will face Holland in the other.
Germany aren't the World Cup-winning side of two years ago. They have reached the last four here thanks to a draw with the Commonwealth of Independent States (The uncomfortable name devised for what had been the USSR) and an unimpressive victory over Scotland. In their final group game, they had been humbled 3-1 by the competition's outstanding side, the Dutch.
The faces of the England players pass across television screens one at a time as God Save The Queen strikes up. Gascoigne mouths the words, but he is thinking back to the World Cup semi-final of two summers ago, then his thoughts turn to last year's FA Cup final. The two biggest games of his life had ended in tears, his own tears. Today, he vows, will be different.
Germany start the game well. Effenberg, Sammer and Hassler quickly seize control of midfield. Gascoigne's face is reddening. Both from the exertion of trying to win the ball and frustration at his failure to do so.
Eight minutes in Reuter escapes down the German right flank. He lays the ball infield to Riedle and continues his run to the edge of the England box, hoping for a return pass. Gascoigne is arriving to intercept him, but he's late, very late. Reuter nicks the ball with his toe, Gascoigne goes to ground. The challenge is wild, Reuter is writhing on the turf, he'll be ok. Gascoigne is lying motionless, his hands cradling his right knee. Physios from both teams rush on to the pitch. Gascoigne knows his knee is shot. He's determined to get to his feet though, willing himself to ignore reality.
The Italian referee shows Gascoigne a yellow card, it should have been a red, but he can tell Gascoigne is not long for this match. Gascoigne hobbles back into the wall that Chris Woods is frantically trying to build.
Thomas Hassler stands over the free-kick. He whips the ball to Woods' right. The England goalkeeper doesn't even hazard a dive. Germany 1 England 0
From the kick-off, Lineker rolls the ball back to Gascoigne. Gascoigne, in turn, pushes it on to Platt. As he does so, he feels an explosion in his injured knee. It buckles beneath him. Gascoigne is helped onto the stretcher. He has pulled his shirt up over his head, a futile attempt to hide his devastation. His naked, heaving chest tells the story. Later, an MRI scan will show a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and shredded cartilage.
Germany add three further goals against Taylor's ragged team. The only relevance of Lineker's solitary reply, a rebound typically pounced upon, is that his international career ends with him becoming England's record goalscorer. Germany 4 England 1
Paul Gascoigne is running out of chances, his vulnerability is increasingly more apparent than his talent. England without him are a feeble prospect, and they will be without him for quite some time. Qualification for the World Cup in the USA looks a tough job for Taylor. It may prove to be an impossible one.