Match: County 1 Middlesbrough 1
Competition: Friendly
Date: Monday July 27th, 1998
Attendance: 7,065

For all his troubles off the field, one undisputed fact shone through: Gazza was never happier than when he was playing football. And it just so happened that he was pretty good at it.

So let us concentrate this afternoon on a marvellous playing career, a journey which began up in the North East for this Gateshead-born hopeful as an apprentice with Newcastle United.

His first real taste of success came in 1985 when, as captain, he led the Magpies' youngsters to success in the FA Youth Cup. Everton, Leeds United, Manchester City, Coventry and, in the semi final, Birmingham (7-2 on aggregate) were beaten to set up a final meeting with Watford. The first leg at St James's Park ended goalless, but in the return Gazza himself and Joe Allon, later of Hartlepool United and Chelsea, each scored twice in a 4-1 win.

Gazza signed professional forms in April of that year (at £120 a week) and soon made his debut, as a substitute, in a 1-0 win over QPR at St James's Park.

He made his first start at Southampton in the opening game of the 1985-86 season and initially stayed in the Newcastle team as three wins and two draws saw them occupy fourth place in the table. Then came a 3-0 battering against Manchester United at Old Trafford and Gazza was back on the subs bench.

But he did play in most of the games that season and claimed his first senior goal in a home 3-0 win over Oxford United.

After two more years at Newcastle, during which Gazza's reputation had continued to blossom including selection for England Under-21's, other big clubs were showing an interest in adding him to their playing staff.

Alex Ferguson especially was keen to take Gazza to Old Trafford, then Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, too, hoped to sign him, but in the end Spurs boss Terry Venables won the battle and Gazza put pen to paper at White Hart Lane in July 1988.

There then followed three of the best years of his life. England manager Bobby Robson at first had misgivings, describing Gazza as "daft as a brush" but the talent was there for all to see. His first international call-up came for a game against Denmark in September 1988 and when he went on as substitute with just five minutes remaining, Gazza was thrilled to be playing at Wembley for the first time.

The game which really launched Gazza's England career, though, was not until April 1990 just before selection of the World Cup squad to go to Italy. Czechoslovakia were the opponents and the Geordie boy was simply brilliant, making two goals for Steve Bull, taking the corner from which Stuart Pearce scored and smacking home one himself.

England won 4-2 and Gazza was on the plane.

The tournament was a memorable one for Gazza. He set up winning goals for Mark Wright and David Platt, impressed all with his play, particularly the Johan Cruyff-like trickery, and he returned home a national hero after his tearful exit following England's unlucky semi final defeat against West Germany on penalties.

Gazzamania was rife. He was voted BBC TV's Sports Personality of the Year and everybody wanted a piece of him.

Back at Spurs, Gazza was inspirational in a run which ended in FA Cup success. He netted six goals along the way, including an incredible free kick past Arsenal's David Seaman in the semi final, then injured himself at Wembley when making a tackle on Nottingham Forest's Gary Charles he would probably rather forget.

That proved to be Gazza's last game for Spurs. He then moved to Lazio in Italy before returning to Britain to play for Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and briefly Burnley and Boston United.

It was during his time with Boro, in July 1998, that the midfield maestro 'played at the Park'. And more than 7,000 turned out to see the England star at close quarters; an incredible total for a pre-season friendly.

Gazza remained part of the England set-up until 1998, winning 57 caps, one lasting memory being of his displays in Euro 96 and of a special goal he scored against Scotland at Wembley.