Troubled soccer legend Paul Gascoigne was feared to be dead after rescuers dragged him from a crashed car.
Gazza was rushed to hospital with head and chest injuries after the car ploughed into a lamppost on Newcastle Quayside on Sunday night. His dad John, brother Carl and sisters Lindsay and Anna-Marie, visited him.
"He was in such a bad way I thought he might not make it - or may even be dead," The Sun quoted an onlooker, as saying.
Gazza is believed to have been the front-seat passenger in a Vauxhall Astra driven by a 36-year-old woman, who was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.
Witnesses said the motor was doing 60 to 70mph in a 30mph area. One witness said it bounced back into the road after the impact.
"We saw a car speeding around the corner. There was a massive crash. The car was smoking. Gazza looked really bad - there was blood everywhere," said student Andreas Weihs.
Bar manager Calvin Blamire said: "Gazza was on his back with a lot of blood coming from his mouth."
