Gazza wants his nickname changed to 'Gassa'

London, Aug 29 (ANI): Troubled football legend Paul Gascoigne, popularly known as 'Gazza', wants his nickname changed to 'Gassa'.

He said Gassa is his dad John's nickname and he was also called by the S version as a youngster.

He only became Gazza when Colin Suggett, his youth team coach at Newcastle, mispronounced Gassa with Zs and it stuck.

The former England midfielder said: "My dad would love it if people started calling me Gassa and so would I, to be honest."

Gascoigne has earlier revealed how he gave former teammate at Italian club Lazio Roberto Di Matteo the fright of his life when he put a snake in the now Chelsea manager's pocket, The Sun reports.

The ex-midfielder said during their time at Lazio with Di Matteo in the mid-90s he found a small snake, he then 'whacked it until it went comatose' and then put it in his teammate's coat. (ANI)