The future looks great for me now, says Gazza.

TROUBLED ex-Boro star Paul Gascoigne, pictured below, claims he is on the road to recovery after a stint in rehab.

The 41-year-old who made 39 Boro appearances between 1998 and 2000, has been fighting a well-documented battle with alcoholism and depression, but says he has been on the wagon for three months.

And Gazza, whose family recently appeared in a TV documentary about his troubles, admitted to a national newspaper he had been "staring into the abyss" but that "now the future looks great".

A tanned Gazza - who scored four times during his Riverside stint - was speaking after a spell in a rehab clinic set up by former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams. Describing drink and drug binges that led to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act three times in the past 12 months, he said 2008 had been the worst year of his life. He admitted drinking hundreds of bottles of wine and gin over a six-week period following a hip replacement operation in December 2007.

He also recalled taking cocaine. But on being sectioned, he said: "I couldn't believe it. I'd gone from being a national hero to a mental hospital. I'd never felt so embarrassed and ashamed."