I have a lot of pity for him, but I don't particularly like him much. No one really likes a drunk, or a wife beater.
However, that a part, he was one of those in the last age of football who were allowed access to too much too soon without any proper financial guidance or influence. Because he's not particularly bright, he was a magnet for hangers on, and there doesnt seem to have been anyone looking after him. But they all had a high old time leeching off him. Quite sad really. He left home at 15 - and was ripe for that sort of abuse. The wiki sums up his early years:
While Gascoigne was successful on the football field, his childhood was marked by instability and tragedy. Initially his family lived in a single upstairs room in a council house with a shared bathroom, and moved several times during Gascoigne's early life.[2] When he was ten, Gascoigne witnessed the death of Steven Spraggon, the younger brother of a friend, who was knocked down by a car.[3] Around this time, his father began to suffer from seizures.[3] Gascoigne began developing obsessions and twitches, and was taken into therapy at age ten, but soon quit the therapy sessions after his father expressed doubts over the treatment methods.[4]
Gascoigne developed an addiction to gaming machines, frequently spending all his money on them, and also began shoplifting to fund his addiction.[5] Death made another appearance in his life when a friend, whom he had encouraged to join Newcastle United from Middlesbrough, died whilst he was working for Gascoigne's uncle on the building sites.[6] At the age of 15, he took the decision to provide for his family ? his parents and two sisters ? financially, as he saw professional football as a way of earning more money than the rest of the family were capable of.[7]
If he hadn't had that amazing football talent, he'd just be another unemployed, toothless by now, probably homeless nobody too.
Tragic really.