Gazza had a real desire to be the best at everything. There's no doubt he was one of the most fantastic players I played alongside.
At his peak he was unbelievable. I knew he was a talent the moment I played against him. He had bravery to take the ball at any time, constant movement and tricks to get himself out of trouble.
He also had this ability to push you in the chest with either arm without fouling you to lever himself away then run past you. He was really hard to shift off the ball. He always said I was one of his favourite players I think because we came from similar areas.
I scored a penalty against Newcastle once at St James' and as I was running back, he said: 'Nice pen Robbo!' I thought ''should he be saying that?'' But that was how he was: mad and funny. When he broke into the England side, Bobby Robson asked me to sit more in midfield. I'd say to Gazza 'don't worry about your tackling let me do that, just concentrate on your passing'.
We found a good balance as he had the intelligence and vision to always make himself an outlet. It was a shame I tore my Achilles against Holland at Italia 90 because I really felt we were developing a great partnership.
He was at his happiest on the pitch, away from it he was difficult to rein in. Managing him was something else. I took him to Middlesbrough as I knew he would make a difference but he could be a nightmare.
We got a delivery of a new team bus before we were playing away at Aston Villa once and he decides to sneak off and test drive it down the road only to crash it into a wall.
I was raging because we had to wait four hours for a replacement and it meant us hitting the traffic by the time we set off for the game. All preparations were out the window.
I made Gazza pay for the damages and fined him two weeks wages. He just put his hands up and said 'fair enough, gaffer'. But that was how he was: mad, funny yet an unbelievable talent.
