EXCLUSIVE: England ace Paul Gascoigne has stayed off the booze and only scrape was breaking thumb on a quad bike during Benidorm break

BRINGING one of the UK’s most legendary boozers to Benidorm was always going to be risky.

But former England star Paul ‘Gazza’ Gasgoigne told the Olive Press he had ‘no intention’ of taking a drink while enjoying a week’s break in Spain.

“I haven’t come here to drink,” he revealed to the paper before a speaking event in the Costa Blanca resort.

“I can drink in my own house if I want to, I don’t have to come to Benidorm to do that.”

The ex-Tottenham legend – who has notoriously been in and out of rehab for years – revealed that he had instead been horse riding and jet skiing.

The 52-year-old, who also played for Lazio and Rangers, said he was ‘feeling great’ after his first proper holiday for years.

“I hadn’t been on holiday in a while and I came here to enjoy myself without booze.

“I’ve been working out every day for the past six weeks, keeping busy and enjoying life,” he added.

The former England ace – who famously cried after England failed to reach the 1990 World Cup Final – has had trouble with drugs and alcohol since his retirement in 2005.

Despite being widely recognised as the most naturally talented player of his generation, he has been addicted to everything from cocaine to Calpol.

He admitted he was a ‘connoisseur of rehab’ and also suffers from being OCD and bipolar.

To add to his damaged profile in the UK press, he was last week accused of singing a ‘foul mouthed’ anti-catholic chant in a Benidorm pub, just before his engagements in Orihuela and Benidorm.

However, he laughed this off as a joke (“I wear a cross around my neck, I’m not anti the Pope”) and insisted the only scrape he had was when he crashed a quad bike in the nearby hills.

“I went a bit crazy going through some trees on a quad bike, hit a boulder and backflipped over the quad.

“I was cut to bits and broke my thumb – it’s well out. Look at it.”

He later told the audience at La Marina hotel, in Benidorm, that he was back to ‘feeling great’.

He said public speaking has given him back the same ‘buzz’ he had when playing football on the international stage.

Gascoigne’s manager Shane Whitfield told the Olive Press that Gascoigne does ‘50 events’ a year now for his company Kong Events.

Whitfield said he ‘rescued’ Gascoigne three years ago when he relapsed in a hotel room before a gig in the UK.

“Because of who he was, the people close to him have broken his trust,” Whitfield said.

“I’ve given him back the basic things in life he never had: just calling him up for a coffee, or taking him jet skiing in Benidorm.”