STEPHEN ROBINSON used to race Sol Campbell for £20 notes thrown at them by Paul Gascoigne.
Thirty years on Robinson returns to Tottenham as boss of Morecambe still chortling at the memory of so many mad, mad days around Gazza.
And at least it is guaranteed that this time he will be picking up the money — and a whole lot more of it.
Even if the League One club do not leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as giant-killers, they will still take home around £300,000 as their share of the gate receipts.
As Robinson would love to work with his players on a training ground owned by The Shrimps, that windfall would go a long way to building one.
Back in 1990 while witnessing the often crazy antics of Gascoigne, he was living hand to mouth and hoping to construct a career as a Spurs striker.
Robinson lost that fight, too, against the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann and Nick Barmby, making just two League appearances.
Yet the 47-year-old from Northern Ireland is delighted to be going back to North London.
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He said: “This was the tie I would have chosen because it gives me the chance to walk down memory lane.
“And what memories I have of Gazza always driving people mad, torturing physios, hand stands on ice buckets.
“He drove into the ground one day throwing money out of his car at us.
“We were YTS boys on £29.50 a week and he was throwing £20 notes and £50 notes at us!
“That was a week’s wages to us and I remember me and Sol Campbell going for a £20 note, a proper scramble . . . there was only one winner unfortunately.
“Gazza was incredibly generous, especially when it came time to send one of us young boys up the road to get his pre–match meal.
“Well it wasn’t Kentucky Fried Chicken, it was a cast-off from that.
Gazza drove into the ground one day throwing money out of his car at us.
“But that was our job for him on a Saturday around 1.30pm and you’d probably get a £50 note from him to go and get it.”
Robinson, who first joined Spurs as an 11-year-old, added: “I signed my first pro contract in 1990 — it’s hard to believe that was the last year that they won the FA Cup.
“I signed under Terry Venables and played a few games under Ossie Ardiles.
“At the time I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t get more than two games.
“But Jurgen Klinsmann, Nick Barmby and Teddy Sheringham probably were slightly better than me and I had to move on.
“I look back on it fondly, lots of good memories, lots of good people.
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“Nick, who I made my debut with against Blackburn, is still a close friend.”
But Robinson, who went on to play for Bournemouth, Preston and Luton, is not going back just for scraps.
He wants to take away more than just money but great new memories, stressing: “This is the game of my life — we will give it everything.”
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