BBC SPORT | Football | Gazza joining Footballers Anonymous



By David Walmsley BBC Sport Online

When Paul Gascoigne flew to the USA last summer he was heading for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sports Talk: Excitement mounting Stateside?

This year, his American destination might as well be Footballers Anonymous.

For if the troubled Gascoigne is seeking some personal space then he will find it in Major League Soccer (MLS) - both on and off the field.

Despite the hoopla that followed the country's 1994 World Cup, football in the USA remains very much a minor sport.

Gazza begins US trial

Former Manchester City and West Ham midfielder Ian Bishop played in the MLS last season for the now-defunct Miami Fusion.

In terms of interest, MLS is still in the stone age

Ian Bishop
ex-Miami Fusion

And the 37-year-old says Gascoigne will find a game that is stagnating off the field and of only moderate standard on it.

"There are some decent individuals but no great teams.

"There was a lad called Onandi Lowe who scored quite a few goals for Kansas City and is now playing for Rushden. That tells you something about the standard."

And he added: "Overall, maybe it's a similar standard to the English Second Division, but slower in pace."

Gascoigne could be made a tempting offer by DC United, whose Geordie coach, Ray Hudson, worked with Bishop in Miami and sought his advice about signing the former England star.

George Best played seven seasons in the States
Gazza is following the example of George Best
But most of his potential new colleagues are playing on far less lucrative terms.

The days when Pele signed a three-year contract for $4.5m (�2.9m) are long gone - a salary cap was introduced for a sport which has failed to generate the revenue the MLS had hoped for.

Bishop said: "They are trying to tell people the league is thriving but they've just cut two teams for financial reasons and 40-odd players are taking pay cuts.

"How can that be thriving?

"In terms of interest, it's still in the stone age."

And he added: "The players over there are not earning good money compared to what is on offer at home."

While DC United and the New York/New Jersey MetroStars attract crowds of more than 20,000, average attendances for the league are hardly impressive and growth is slow.

And, as Bishop found out in Miami, even apparently successful sides are not guaranteed to prosper - or even survive.

DC United fact file

Nickname: The Black and Red

Ground: RFK Stadium, Washington

Crowd: 21,000

Honours: CONCACAF Champions Cup 1998
Interamerican Cup 1998
US Open Cup 1996
MLS champions 1996, 1997, 1999

Coach: Ray Hudson

Star players: Marco Etcheverry, Eddie Pope, Jaime Moreno

Fusion won their conference last season with the league's best record and Bishop named in the All-Star team.

They also doubled their attendance, but the fact that a table-topping team could still only draw 8,000 led the league to conclude that Miami could not support a side.

They duly pulled the plug before also axing state neighbours Tampa Bay, who could not find a buyer for the struggling franchise.

Bishop said of his season in the Florida sun: "The people at the club were lovely but they were naive in a football sense.

"At times it was a farce but the way of life compensated for that."

With the US enjoying its status as the world's leading centre for entertainment and industrial-scale eating, there will be pitfalls aplenty for Gascoigne to negotiate.

After all, George Best found enough to keep him occupied for seven seasons in the States.

But Bishop believes that being able to live his life in relative anonymity could help Gascoigne keep himself on an even keel.

Bishop's warning to Gazza

"There are a lot of off-field distractions and he will occasionally get recognised because DC have quite a large fan base," he said.

"But it won't be anything like he is used to and maybe that will be a blessing for him."


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