IT is a name that evokes a thousand images, some good, some rather more alarming.

From the football field, there is the impudent chip over Colin Hendry in Euro 96, the exocet free-kick that opened the scoring in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final and the tears that captivated a nation at the World Cup finals in Italy a year earlier. That was Paul Gascoigne with the world at his feet.

But as we all know only too well, there is another side to the Geordie sporting icon, a dark, complex maelstrom that takes him to places none of us would want to go.

It is there in the ravages of alcoholism that plagued a lengthy period of his life, there in the tortured relationship with his former wife Sheryl, and there in the painful excursion to a Northumberland field during the stand-off with fugitive Raoul Moat.

This is Gazza as he is now, a fragile, some would say damaged character, desperately fighting against his demons.

Crucially though, it is a fight he is winning. Now spending most of his time on the south coast, close to the Providence Project in Bournemouth, a treatment clinic he credits with turning his life around, Gascoigne has not touched a drink for almost two years.

He knows that could change tomorrow. But after emerging from a period of darkness, the fact he can be so positive about the present is an achievement in itself.

"I'm nearly 45 years of age," said Gascoigne, who was back in the North-East earlier this month to attend the unveiling of a statue of his great mentor, Sir Bobby Robson, and will return again next month to attend a talk-in at Rainton Meadows Arena. "For 42 of those years I've had a brilliant life.

"I have been good for a long time and nothing bothers me any more. I am better than I have ever, ever been. I feel like I've said enough about my problems but yeah, two to three years before I went into treatment I wasn't well.

"It was drinking, not drugs. I only did those a couple of times and didn't like it to be honest, so it was drinking. I wasn't well but in the North-East I had some great friends who have helped me out.

"Peter Beardsley is a great man, a great friend. Kenny Shepherd (son of former Newcastle United chairman, Freddy) was helping me out. But I knew that I needed help this time.

"So I got treatment for it and this time, I actually stuck with it. Now it's up to me. I don't want people to think I'm blaming anyone or anything for my drinking.

"I drank because I wanted to drink. It wasn't because of any big problems that I had. I just wanted to drink and now I don't. I can't explain it to you but that is my thinking.

"I am an alcoholic though, and I always will have that bit of me there. Can I promise I won't drink again? I can't make that promise because none of us knows what is going to happen in the future.

"But I haven't got these big problems that the press say I have. The press have got it wrong. I'm happy with life and I love where I am in my life."

Gascoigne has always had a difficult relationship with the press, who wanted to love him and chastise him in equal measure.

He claims the coverage of the Raoul Moat incident adversely affected his treatment for alcoholism, and feels that sections of the media are waiting for him to slip up again in order to feed their demands for another front-page exclusive.

"I was walking down the street the other day and I started talking to a tramp. A homeless guy," he said. "I sat down next to him and chatted to him about what had happened to him. I gave him some money for a sandwich and just listened to what he was saying.

"I know exactly what would have happened if the press or a photographer had seen me. It would have been, 'Gazza's drinking again - look at him talking to a tramp', but that's me.

"I'd give my last penny away to someone else, I honestly would. I think I'm big-hearted. And I don't really care what they say about me any more, I'm comfortable in myself and I'm happy with my life at the moment.

"I was thinking about it after. Why shouldn't I talk to the guy just in case I get called something I'm not again? It's just me, if someone wants to put a label on me then fine. But I know I'm okay."

Gascoigne's life now consists of a series of little triumphs; another alcohol-free evening, a morning at the gym, a meeting at the Providence Project to share his experiences with others. What it doesn't really embrace is football.

It is one of the game's enduring embarrassments that so little was done to help and support Gascoigne, a character who gave the footballing world so much yet who was clinically cut adrift when he became something of an embarrassment.

As a result, his relationship with the game, a bond that once consumed him, has changed out of all recognition.

He still takes an interest, but has grown increasingly disillusioned with the monochrome nature of modern football, a game that has less and less room for the maverick unpredictably of a player such as Gascoigne.

"I try not to watch football now," he said. "I still love the game - of course I do. I haven't fallen out of love with football, but I don't love the players.

"I would hate to be a footballer nowadays. All the diving and throwing yourself on the floor. Didier Drogba is a great player, but look at him. It's embarrassing the way he throws himself around. How can he look at his girlfriend in the face after acting like that? If I had a 14-year-old kid I wouldn't let them watch Chelsea.

"I used to miss playing football and being involved, but I don't miss it

any more. I have been offered work with a few football clubs, but I want to be able to demonstrate what I could do.

"I still love football and I've been to Bournemouth. I went to Newcastle and St James' Park a couple of times, but what I want to see is good football, like Sir Alex Ferguson gets his teams to play.

"If you're getting paid £200,000-a-week, that is the least you should do. I went out there to try and entertain and put a smile on people's faces, but now the game doesn't feel like that."

But what about the so-called characters of the Premier League? Mario Balotelli has been hogging the headlines for most of the season, does Gascoigne see a little bit of himself in the Italian?

"Mario Balotelli? Don't make me laugh. What's he done? Setting off fireworks in his bathroom wouldn't even cause any damage," he said.

"He can come back to me when he's brought an ostrich to training. Yeah, when I was playing I brought in an ostrich and just let it loose on the training pitch.

"The lads didn't know what to do. The gaffer was furious. I just thought it was funny but I haven't seen Balotelli do that!

"To be fair, it's difficult for them. They're on £200,000-a-week and

everyone is out to get them. They have camera phones and they can't do that sort of thing because they get slaughtered.

"I just wanted to put a smile on everyone's face, but there's no personalities any more. Fireworks. It's a bit pathetic isn't it really?"