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England icon Paul Gascoigne has spoke of how he feared for his life during a horrifying hospital ordeal. The former Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur hero was left with a punctured lung and six broken ribs after falling while trying to hang something in his home.

The 58-year-old says he was begging hospital experts to ease his concerns over passing away after having visions of seeing his late father. Gascoigne was terrified ahead of his operation, shedding tears as he pleaded with a care assistant to get the surgeon. There was a light-hearted interaction between the specialist and Gascoigne when the surgeon joked that he should have joined Manchester United but the former attacking midfielder has detailed his worrying experience at the end of last year.

Speaking to Clutch 9, he said: "I didn't have the best Christmas and New Year. I was hanging something up and I fell backwards. I broke six ribs and I punctured a couple of lungs.

"And then I go to the hospital and you know, I'm okay. I mean, I'm in agony obviously and they give me some pain relief. And then I just felt my neck getting bigger.

"I got the surgeon in quickly because I was panicking. And the surgeon came in and I went, 'Please, please, tell me I'm not going to die.' And he said, 'I'm not going to tell you - you should have signed for Manchester United,'.

"He then walked back out of the room! I couldn't see where he's gone because my cheeks were up with my eyes as they'd all swelled up and I was like 'please, please tell us.' I could see my dad in the clouds and I was really panicking.

"I've had 38 operations so this normally doesn't bother me but this time I was really s******g myself. I was saying, 'please get the surgeon.' I was crying my eyes out!"

Gascoigne was speaking to the podcast for an upcoming documentary and he was admitted to hospital in June last year after he was rushed to hospital after being found semi-conscious by a friend at his home in Poole, Dorset. The attacking midfielder was downgraded from the intensive care ward to an acute medical unit following the health scare.

The 58-year-old has saw his health battles widely publicised and he has previously opened up on his battle with alcohol addition. Gazza's heart was said to have stopped beating while at a clinic in Arizona 12 years ago.

He was given an injection to keep him alive after going cold turkey in an attempt to win his fight with addicition. After an 18-day induced coma, he regained consciousness and described it as being brought "back from the dead" by doctors.