ANDY GRAY, one of the most respected figures in football, will be writing regular columns for Football365 throughout the World Cup. Here's his view on the surprise omission of Paul Gascoigne from England's squad. I have to say I'm surprised by Glenn Hoddle's decision to leave Gazza at home. I've watched him closely in the last few games and it's been obvious that he's not 100% match fit and he hasn't influenced the games he played in in the way he would want. But I don't know whether that's the point. You could take just about any other player such as David Batty or Rob Lee or just about any other member of the team and say �We can fill in and find a replacement who can give us the things they give us.' But to my mind the problem is that no-one can do what Gazza does when he's playing well. In a squad of 22 players there will be players who don't figure in his plans at all, who won't even play a game, so leaving Gazza out does seem odd to me. The squad will be devastated in many ways. There are very few players worth taking a risk on at the level of football that we're talking about. In my opinion there are three players who come into that category in the England squad. There's David Seaman, Alan Shearer and Gazza. Those three possess something which the others don't, something special, so it stands to reason that if England are going to win through in a game that's really tight then they might need Gazza to pull something out of the bag for them. I think it's a huge gamble for Glenn Hoddle and he will be aware that it could very well backfire on him. But Glenn's never ducked away from making big decisions and that extra pressure won't bother him. I think he'll be judged to have been either brave or foolish at the end of the tournament. We can all debate and argue and think about whether this might happen or that might happen, but the truth of the matter is that the proof of pudding is in the eating. I believe that the lack of creativity in midfield means that if you're taking Gazza away then you're taking away an awful lot. And let's not forget that there are still two weeks to go before the finals. And you'd certainly hope that you wouldn't even need him to play against Tunisia. Gazza's proved in the past that he's a big tournament player. And just as important you have to remember that when you're away at the World Cup you're away for a long time. You need players who can keep the squad bubbling, keep them happy. England have lost a lot of the good vibes and the liveliness that Gazza and Ian Wright brought to the set-up. Through both injury and his own choice Glenn's now lost two of England's biggest personalities. You really need people who can be light-hearted and bring a smile to people's faces when things aren't going too well. If the unthinkable happens and England lose to Tunisia, then Glenn might well come to realise that.

�HODDLE GOT IT WRONG' CLAIMS CLUB BOSS ROBSON   PAUL GASCOIGNE'S club manager Bryan Robson sprung to his defence yesterday, shooting down Glenn Hoddle's claims that the Middlesbrough midfielder was not fit enough for the World Cup and even insisting that Hoddle himself had bungled Gazza's attempts to get into shape. The former England captain, who suffered his share of World Cup heartbreak, said: Paul needed to play a full game against Saudi Arabia and then have a bit of a break where he could train up to playing in the Morocco game. But Glenn went the other way and asked Gazza to try and play in two of the three games, which is very demanding when you're travelling to a game on the day of a game, so there was always the likelihood that he was going to pick up an injury. Robson said he was surprised to hear Hoddle claim Gascoigne was unfit, insisting: He proved towards the end of the season for us that his fitness had no problems. He came through our last games with flying colours. He did really well for us - he was up and down the pitch. When he left us at the end of the season, he was getting very close to being 100% fit. "And I know that England have had enough time to have trained and got Gazza's fitness going. As far as I'm concerned, the speculation surrounding him smoking and eating a kebab was all blown out of proportion. Gazza is a top-quality player and a player who can win you a game out of nothing, especially at the highest level - and that is what England are going into.

top