AS CALLS for his sacking by Rangers over alleged wife-beating and on-field misbehaviour multiplied yesterday, Paul Gascoigne suddenly decided to conduct his own defence. It has to be said that his act of contrition was unlikely to have moved a jury towards acquittal or a judge towards leniency.

Reporters assembled in the Ibrox pressroom for the weekly pre-match rituals were startled when Walter Smith, the manager, said that Gascoigne wanted to unburden himself.

Smith had already provided the first ripple of surprise by hinting that the erratic England mid-fielder will, despite the furore of the previous two days, almost certainly play for Rangers in this afternoon's Premier Division match against Aberdeen at Ibrox.

"I've had a talk with him," said Smith, "and he seems all right about things. But I'll make a final decision tomorrow morning on whether it's best for him to play. My first priority at the moment is picking a team I think can beat Aberdeen."

Gascoigne, accompanied by assistant manager Archie Knox, then offered his apologies and regrets. "First of all, about what happened the other night," said Gascoigne, in allusion to his dismissal against Ajax in the Champions League match in Amsterdam. I'm a disgrace to myself and I've let down the manager, the chairman, the players, the staff and the supporters.

"After I was sent off against Borussia Dortmund last year, I said it wouldn't happen again. With a nod in the direction of the allegations that he battered his wife, Sheryl, he added: "I think I took my domestic problem into the Ajax match with me.

"I know there have been stories about me wanting to leave here and others saying I would be sacked. It would be easy to walk away, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to stand up for myself, come back stronger and do my best for Rangers.

"I deeply regret what's happened in the last 48 hours, but I came back stronger from Dortmund and I want to do the same again. Football's my life and I want to stand up, rather than walk away. I'm going to face up to everything and do my best for this club. I know I'll get some boos from the fans, but it will take more than that to make me give up the game and walk away."

There will be further trials for the midfielder, starting with today's collision with Aberdeen. This is the fixture in which Gascoigne's part in a series of incidents led to his being disciplined by the Scottish FA last season. The recording of the events showed that he was guilty of several offences, any one of which would have merited a red card. Yet he was not so much as cautioned and the SEA had to rely on the report from their referee supervisor to nail Gascoigne.

He was given the equivalent of an ordering-off, served a one-match suspension, and had disciplinary points added to his record. The referee that day, John Rowbotham, was unofficially rapped by the authorities and has since taken charge of relatively minor matches until now.

Guess who is in charge at lbrox this afternoon? Rowbotham's need to rebuild his own career - he had been regarded as a young high flyer before his fall in last season's game - could provide an interesting side bar to Gascoigne's.

The need for Gascoigne to stick to the football and give a performance has become paramount for Rangers as well as himself. The Scottish champions prefaced the midweek embarrassment in Amsterdam with their first league defeat of the season against Hibernian last Saturday and now have only a two-point lead over their greatest rivals, Celtic.