39 Days of Gazza – When Paul Gascoigne arrived to manage Kettering Town, people lined the streets to greet him. Just 39 days later, Gazza was gone and the club was on it's knees

As the first-time manager of a provinical non-League football team, former England star Paul Gascoigne promised to fulfil their dreams. Then, in the space of just 39 days, both manager and team saw a dramatic reversal of fortune… Gazza was the English football icon of the 1990s. His magnificent midfield play provided some of England's most memorable moments, and he enjoyed a headline-grabbing career with Newcastle United, Tottenham, Lazio, Glasgow Rangers, Middlesborough and Everton. Then it all went terribly wrong. He still made the headlines, but for all the wrong reasons – alcoholism, drugs, wife-beating, personality disorder, run-ins with the law, nervous breakdown. Like his great hero George Best, Gascoigne seemed to have passed a personal point of no return. Then in the autumn of 2005, he was given a chance to rebuild his career with his first job as a football manager. As part of a consortium which bought Kettering Town, Gazza reinvented himself. Appearing to have his personal problems under control, he took charge – full of big ideas about steering the club into the Football League and towards the big time. The people of Kettering were star-struck by the celebrity among them. And yet, within just a few short weeks after Gascoigne was appointed manager, he would be sacked amidst an increasingly bizarre series of allegations, leaving a once hopeful club on its knees. In39 Days of Gazza, author Steve Pitts tells the story of how the disintegration of Gascoigne's managerial role impacted on so many people's lives – not least his own. This is a tragicomedy of English football, on a par with the fictionalised appraoch of The Damned United. Told by a writer who was close enough to factually observe the events, it features revealing contributions from many who were present at the time.