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Talk:Paul Gascoigne/GA1

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GA Review

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Reviewer: Ritchie333 (talk · contribs) 14:16, 4 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]


Okay, I am going to give this a go. I see parallels with Keith Moon - both men are widely appreciated for their talent in their respective fields, which has been overshadowed by drink and behaviour issues. With apologies for sounding morbid, half the time I go into my local shop I expect to see a headline on The Sun telling me he's died.

I've skimmed through the article and it looks pretty well written, so I don't forsee too many problems reviewing this. A lot of the article has been cited from his autobiography with Hunter Davies, which should be a largely acceptable source provided we skirt around any POV in it. It helps that he's been in the press so often, as editors will come along every now and again and aggressively remove any BLP violations that have a tendency to turn up. The "personal life" area will need close attention, and even some of the career aspects eg: Kettering Town management might benefit from being toned down a bit too.

Specific comments follow:

Lead

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  • Per discussions on the talk page, is that really the only decent free image we have?
  • "a former English footballer" - what are these references to the Bournemouth Sunday League about?
  • "and off-field problems" - can we be specific? To be honest, I think a better last sentence in the opening paragraph would be a brief summary of his career eg: 57 caps and years with England
  • Worth mentioning where he grew up and briefly explain how he entered professional football
  • "and was famously reduced to tears..." - I wondered if this was suitable for the lead? I can certainly remember it being all over the national news and infamously lampooned on Spitting Image the day it happened, but is it really a significant stand out part of his career? (Feel free to disagree on this)
  • "especially during his various run-ins with the law in 2008–2010" - I don't think the problems really started in 2008 and finished completely in 2010. Probably best to just say "especially since leaving professional football"
  • I don't know what's required for the infobox to be correct; perhaps a WP:FOOTY regular like GiantSnowman can advise

Early life

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Newcastle United

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Tottenham Hotspur

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Lazio

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Rangers

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Middlesbrough

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Later career

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  • "Gascoigne scored on his début" (for Gansu Tianma) - suggest "scored in his first match"
  • "and he never returned to the club" - the ESPN source puts it more strongly, they gave him an ultimatum to come back or be in breach of contract
  • "citing professional reasons including his coaching career, effectively ending his career" - can this be reworded so "career" is not mentioned twice. And can we really say his playing career was definitely over in 2004, 36/37 is certainly getting towards the end of a professional playing career but it's not impossible to go on for a few more years.
  • "In August 2014, Gascoigne came out of retirement to sign for Bournemouth Sunday League Division Four team Abbey" - This needs another source. Frankly, this seems like a drunken joke helping a friend out, rather than any serious return to professional football in any capacity

International career

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Managerial and coaching career

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Other projects

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Personal life

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Struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illnesses

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  • I really don't like the name of this section, but I'm struggling to think of what else to call it. Fundamentally, it's correctly titled, the information is sourced, and we'd fall foul of the NPOV policy if we left it all out. How about "Mental illness and alcoholism"? Or maybe simply "Controversies"?
  • Will need a source for this, but around 1996-97, I recall that Gascoigne was semi-frequently on TFI Friday and regularly socialised with Chris Evans and Danny Baker, usually over drink. That should go in somewhere, but not in this "controversial stuff" section
  • "His autobiography Gazza: My Story, written with Hunter Davies, was published in 2004." - this can go up to the main section, as it's not directly about controversies
  • "In 1998 he first entered sustained therapy sessions" - suggest "Gascoigne first entered therapy sessions in 1998"
  • "He stayed at the clinic in Cottonwood, Arizona" - don't need "Cottonwood, Arizona" here, the previous sentence mentions it
  • The section on the autobiography could do with a secondary source (such as a book review in a broadsheet) that backs up the details. His autobiography can't really be used to cite itself!
  • "In February 2008 he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after a possible suicide attempt" - the BBC News source given does not appear to mention the word "suicide" and per WP:BLP this must be removed immediately

Career statistics

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Honours

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Summary

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Okay, I've had another look, and tidied up a few of the sources I was concerned about. I think all of my issues are resolved, and this really does look like a "good article" both in spirit as well as in letter, so I'm happy to pass the review now. Well done. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 20:56, 5 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]