I once had a friend obsessed with knowing about her future - whether she would marry the man of her dreams, if she would live till she was 100, and whether she would soar to the top of her profession. She seemed to visit fortune tellers almost weekly and set great store by their mumblings. Yet judging by the leaves at the bottom of the cup all she ever really found out was that the tea she drank was too strong.

But faith! As the England team prepare to go into battle in France they seem consumed with matters mystical. Pressure, it seems, can get to the best of them.

As usual, hopes are high (nothing less than the ultimate prize will do for many commentators) and criticism comes fast and furious at the slightest sign of anyone meandering off the chosen path. No measure, however bizarre, is discounted whether it be the ministrations of faith healers or calling on the Hand of God to change sides this time in the quest for a re-run of 1966.

Gazza, too, has revealed a mystical side to his nature too, presumably brought on by all those lonely nights without Shezza watching The X Files and black and white re-runs of The Outer Limits.

Earlier this week Gazza spoke of his No.1 dream.

Scoring the winning goal in the final? Good, but not The Thing. Stopping smoking? Not at all. Catching a record-breaking salmon? Attractive but still not The Thing. No, for this not quite grown up boy the highlight of his life would be be to see a UFO.

''They're real,'' he said. ''UFOs are a definite fact and I've got to see one soon, I've got to,'' he told one incredulous interviewer. Pressure, it seems, even gets to the most unflappable.

And of course Paul's been in the firing line again. There have been rows about his fitness, rows about his smoking, rows about his drinking, rows about what he eats. Yet isn't there something more than a little absurd about the fact that a footballer eats a kebab making the headlines? Mind you, it has happened before - and not in England.

The Precious Police never seem to leave him alone. Nutritionists jumped in with dire warnings of the adverse effects of onions, how late-night eating was detrimental to his attempt to get fully fit for France '98 and pointed out that smoking used up huge amounts of vitamin C and severely reduced his lung capacity.

The drinking and carousing with supposedly wild friends was seen as another sign of his unstable character. Yet this train of events is replicated all over the country day and daily.

Somehow it's heartening to find that footballers are not the paragons of virtue that some more puritanical pundits would have them. Over the years the character-factor has waned and that is why he has received so much publicity.

Of course Gazza has undoubtedly made plenty of blunders in the past. The flute-playing incident at an Old Firm game was downright stupid, the bust-ups and behaviour towards his wife unforgivable. And he is under pressure to regain a proper level of fitness as a crucial member of the England squad. He can see the pass better than any other member of the group.

But preparation has to fit the personality. Gazza was never made for the monk-like existence that some fall easily into in the run-up to the World Cup. The Italians and the Brazilians are so regimented that every single thing the eat is measured out and deliberated over. The litres of Chianti and Carbonara are presumably off the menu. And not a kebab in sight.

Getting ready for the World Cup is really down to the man himself. His talent is undeniable, his willpower on the park too. Off the football field it is a different matter. Glenn Hoddle will make sure he buckles down and runs out in pursuit of a dream. Just don't let him cry again.

I don't have to consult a fortune teller to make a prediction about the World Cup. If England win, with or without Gazza's help, there will be a mass exodus from Scotland to a desert island with no television or radio links.

After all, who could bear another 30 years of crowing?