 A'r ddatb was bringing in Paul Gaskell. I mean, there was a lot of characters came in, under Walter, you know what I mean. A'r ddatb was crying on the side of a patron. D'co. A le fie'i dd'co. John Cullen was brilliant, you know. I mean, there's some great players, you know. And then obviously, Gazzard arrived. And that was there on the day and I remember you brought him in at the ticker office and he was shaking. And I couldn't believe it because obviously I don't ever see him on the TV or whatever. And he's come and stood with us and I was thinking, Paul Gaskell, you know, his hands were going and all that. Oh, yeah, he was. He was all nervous, wasn't he? Nervs, he was totally nervous. But he was an unbelievable fellow. Well, he changed my life, really, you know, my life at Everton, you know, because my work load, yeah, it just went up. I mean, I'm not even talking about the fact that I used to babysit his kids every now and again. But, you know, while I was trying to do my job, because he'd just come to the shop and he'd say, I don't admire as it goes. And he'd have the kids and he'd say, I'm just nipping to the toilet or whatever and then I wouldn't see him. He's gone. So I've got his two kids to look after, you know, for the day. And, you know, he wouldn't even tell you, you know. And but the day he came, I remember Michael Dunford saying to me, Alan, I want you to go downstairs. He said Paul Gaskell was going to turn up because he came on his own. He wasn't with an agent or anything like that. He says he's going to turn up, you're being a ranger over thing. He said just look after and bring him up and, you know, get him ready. So I said OK. So I go downstairs. There he is parked up and he's sat in the, he's just sat outside in the car park outside the park end. So I go and knock on the window, you know, like. I said he put the window down. I said, I Paul, you OK? I said, I'm Alan Myers. I said I'm the press officer. I, I man, you all right? So I said, yeah. He said, do as a favour will you? So I said, he goes, go and get us 20 tabs. So I said, what's tabs? So he said, 20 cigarettes you idiot. He said, do you not know anything down here? So I said, I said, I've never heard of tabs. You know, it was obviously a northeastern thing, I think, you know, and so I had to run across the road to, you know, the shop by the goodness and superb buy and get him 20 Benson and Edges and bring them back because his nerves. And that's exactly right. You know, his nerves, he was shot, you know. And then we did the big press conference, which was really good. Everyone was there, you know, and I always remember. Fans outside. Well, there was fans outside. Colin Wood, one of the journals. We'd, the internet had just started at this point, right? You know, I've got like a dropper, if you know what I mean, it was proper. And we'd put an interview with Gaza on just before the press conference and Colin Wood, one of the journals, because it was the Mersey mafia in those days. There was like six of them who run the place really when they come to media, you know, you couldn't do anything. You had to go through them, you know, that's how bad it was. And I remember Colin Wood coming up to me in the captain's suite or whatever it was called, the captain's bar. And he said to me, you've put an interview out? I said, I don't know, yeah, it was just a club interview. Why have you done that? So I said, well, because you have a very old down here for this press conference and you've put an interview. I mean, it's literally minutes before. I said, well, we're the club, you know, but it's never been done before, you know. And he said, right, we'll take this outside. And he was offering me out, you know. Honestly, it was hilarious, you know. And it was like, you just couldn't believe like how things have changed, you know. And he was like, you know, Greg Colin, I got on with Colin. He was good, you know. But it was just that, it was that change over of, you know, the grasp and control back for the club, you know, to from the media, you know what I mean? Because they, as I say, they ruled, roost, you know. And but it was a great press conference and Gaza was brilliant. You know, we did everything we wanted him to do. And but then, as I say, then started the, you know, the life of, you know, honestly late night calls to his hotel and, you know, he broke into my house once, you know. And, you know, and it was just, honestly, he was just non-stop, you know. He broke into your house. He broke into my house, yeah. And Walter had always told me, never let him know where you live, you know. Because he stayed in a place called the Redbourne Hotel, which was in Wolton. I lived in Halewood Village, which was just around the corner. And this one night he'd got bored and he came trying to get into me patio doors, you know. And I was like, you know, I went downstairs. He'd have like a little wooden pole next to me bed, you know, in case of any problems, you know. And I went downstairs. He nearly got it, to be honest. But he just wanted, he was fed up and he just wanted to talk. So we came in the house. Fodd un ar y jysnwch ddannod o. Exactly, but, you know, he didn't do that, Paul. And I mean, but some, I mean, honestly there's a story every day that he was there, literally every day, you know. You know, the time he drove to Scotland because he had a bad tooth. And he had a gold tooth. And he was frightened, he was terrified. He was going to fall out and he was going to swallow it, you know. So he kept telling me to get a dentist. So I tried to get a dentist in Liverpool and no one would. Then they said, the only thing you can do is take him to the Royal Hospital. Well, with the best will in the world, I wasn't going to sit in the Royal Hospital in the Department with Paul Gascon. You know, it was just never going to happen. We couldn't, I said, just leave it till the morning. You know, you'll be fine. You're not going to swallow it. You're not in pain, he's taking tablets and everything. Anyway, next minute I get a phone call from the girl from Redbourne, you know. Just letting you know he's gone. So I said, where's he gone? She said, I don't know, but he mentioned Scotland. So I said, oh God, where's he going to Scotland, you know. Anyway, so what he'd done is he'd driven all the way to Glasgow through the night, parked up outside his dentist when he played at Rangers. Parked up there because he'd said he'd do it, you know. And so the next morning, you know, I'd go into the train and Walter said to me, he never mentioned his name, Walter. He just said to me, where is he at? So I said, he's in Glasgow, you know. And I said, I told him the story about his tooth and everything, you know. And that was what, you know, we had to deal with Paul, you know. But he was, you know, as much as he could be like that sometimes, he was genius in other ways. And, you know, and he was great to have it at the club. And, you know, we never saw the best of him, obviously, you know, far from it. But he was, you know, honestly, I mean, some of the things, some of the things that he would get up to, you know, in the club, you know, some of the jokes he'd play. And, you know, and, you know, people say, well, you know, you're not there to joke and all the rest of it. And it's very different today, I get that. But you had to have characters, you know. And Paul was a real character. He was probably the best, you know, out of all of them. And he was unbelievable generous, you know. He got injured against Leicester. And he was out for a number of weeks, you know. It was Leicester away, yeah. And he rang me the next day and he said, Myers, I need some, he christened me Myers, you know. I need some tickets for something. My family are coming down tomorrow for you. So I said, OK, so I said, how many do you need? 11. 11. So he said, yeah. I said, what do you want to go? You know, I don't know anything, any concerts or anything like that. So I rang a contact of mine at Radio City and I said, you know, I said, can you help Paul out? I said, he needs to take his family. And so he said, yeah. I said, I can get you into Westlife, you know, in the MEN. So he said, yeah. He said, I'll get a couple of tickets. I said, you want to live 11, 11, you know. So he said, yeah. So we get the 11 tickets, the guy come good for us, you know. And because they knew the agents and all the rest of it, you know. So the next day, we were going on the Sunday night, I think it was. So Paul rings me up and he says, get your daughter and two mates, he said to my hotel. So I said, he said, oh no, get your daughter. This is the first time. Get your daughter and you and your wife to my hotel. So I said, OK. And he had those 11 tickets, three of them were for me and my wife and my daughter, you know. And that was Paul. You know, like just when you thought he was just being a cheeky. So and so, you know, he always had you in mind and he always. And he said, I've got your three tickets there in there. He said, the night, you know, wherever it was, eight or nine, whatever it was, I can't do the maths. He said, off of me, you know. So we got there on the night and we were sat behind him in a row. He had his sister and, you know, nephews and all these things. And Jimmy five bellies was there, you know. So I leaned over and I said, I said, everything all right? He says, yeah, yeah, thank you very much. He wasn't there, Paul. So I said, where's Paul? And he said, just watch the stage next minute. Gaza comes out on the stage with Brian McFadden, you know. And like, and they're all, you know, they're all singing. And, you know, I think it was Westlife, was it Westlife? Westlife, yeah. Brian, yeah, Brian, yeah. Cos he got to be good mates with Brian, you see. And then a couple of months later, he rang me again and he said, get your daughter and two of her mates to the hotel tonight. So I said, OK. So my daughter was about 10, 11 at the time, loved Westlife. You know, she went with it, brought her to me. And then Brian had sent the limousine, the Westlife limousine to the Redbourne, picked the girls up with me. And we went to the concert and sat in the family seats, you know. And Paul just said to me, that's to say, thanks for sorting the ticket out for me. And people never really seen that side of him. He's so generous, you know, everything about him. But he was a character and a half, you know, Paul. And, you know, you have to deal with the demons as well. And we saw that on many occasions. You know, real trouble times, you know, I've seen him, you know, in not in a good place, you know. And like really desperately bad places, you know, not far from, you know, I've had phone calls often which are really depressing and, you know, and things like that, you know. And you have to be there for people, you know. And I think he's always appreciated that. But yeah, he upped my workload by a good 70%. I had an easy life. The old one, when Apple was leaving and Apple's happy. He was going to live a food that's got the weight on. And, you know, all the shine and running around with that. Yeah, people had the wig here. I'd left at that point. I'd gone to Sky and he was there a lot more. And he said, Jimmy Firebird, he said, you might want to get your camera on the back. I said, well, you said I'm going to buy a silver wig for Gaza. He's putting it on the same as, you know, so I said, oh my God. So anyway, we got the footage. But, you know, he was such a generous person, not just to give you stuff, just in the way he dealt with you, you know. And as I say, people don't always see the other side of it, you know. And he had his troubles and he was never an angel, you know. I don't ever try to paint him as anything like that. But deep down, he was a good guy and, you know, who's famed, you know, taking charge of it, you know what I mean. And, you know, and it's not, shouldn't be a surprise. You know, he's led to come from, you know, from working-class backgrounds and next minute there, you know. Cos Gaza was bigger than Beckham and all of them at one point. You know, he was worldwide. You know, Beckham was eventually, you know. But, yeah, he was something else, Gaza, you know.