Naughty boy! Kicking Dennis Wise in the chest.
Posted on November 17th, 2009 | 49 Comments |
David joined Newcastle in 1995 in a £2.5 million move from Paris St Germain. He had been voted the French Player of the Year, and the French Players, Player of the year in 1994 (probably before they were booted out of the World Cup). By all accounts, he must have been happy to arrive in old Angleterre after being made a scapegoat for the French team missing out on a place in that year’s World Cup Finals. With France carefully playing out a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria, knowing they only needed a point to take them to the finals, they brought on Daveed as a late substitute, and yes, you guessed it, he tried an overly flamboyant pass to Cantona, which was intercepted, Bulgaria scored, and Les Bleus were going no where. National outrage followed and David decided in the circumstances he would scarper overseas.
His instant charm, good looks (I do sound superficial I know), and fabulous skills meant he was a big hit right away with the Geordie public. Well we know a good footballer when we see one and he was it. A skilful winger who joined Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers and brought some further panache to the swash buckling team. Who can forget his goal against Manure in the 5-0 drubbing they received?
Despite the adultaion, playing in the most exciting team in the premiership and winning the ‘Haircut of the Year’ award (I kid you not), he took one look at the dour Dalglish who made it plain he was not his kind of player, and followed Keegan out the door. So after 75 league and cup appearances and 7 goals, his path took him down the M1 with Sir Les Ferdinand, where he joined Spurs in a £2million deal. Meanwhile, the famous hair was to gain more attention with a contract for L’Oreal (because I’m worth it), and he frequently appeared on screens up and down the country.
After initially excelling at Spurs, his future was put in doubt when George ‘no nonsense’ Graham took over and it was clear that George Graham’s obsession with industry and endeavour, while Ginola’s focus on flair, where never going to be happy bed partners. After winning both the PFA and Football Writers award, poor old Daveed failed to win a place in the French World Cup squad in ’98, and, despite receiving Johan Cruyff’s endorsement that he thought Ginola was the best player in the world at the time he found himself being sold for £3 million to Villa in July 2000.
Ginola was not a happy bunny and blamed Graham in the press for selling him. His time at Villa seemed to be very hit and miss as he was upset at lack of first team action, being played out of position, and to top it all devastated to the point of taking legal action against comments made about his physique by then manager, John Gregory (who was probably jealous!).
Cherie Blair was ready to represent him, allegedly, and the PFA gave him their backing. Well, they cleared the air, but in December he was sent off for kicking Dennis Wise in the chest (good judge of character). Early the following year he left Villa and joined the Toffees at Everton just before boss Walter Smith left. However his tenure was short as he made only one appearance for David Moyes and Ginola decided to take off his footballing boots for good and retire.
Since then he has appeared on the big and little screen in various acting roles, and won a medal for a rose wine produced in his vineyard in the South of France. He was also appointed to take up the work that Diana, Princess of Wales had started with the Red Cross landmine campaign.
He often still pops up in the media and was said to be very upset that Newcastle had been relegated and even offered his services to come back and help bring the team back to the premiership.
A great player and what we would give to have someone of his calibre playing for us today.
NUFCBlog Author: geordie deb
geordie deb has written 38 articles on this blog.
Deb,
An oustanding player.
Who can ever forget the night we beat the “Smoggies” 1 – 0 in 1995 when Daveed turned Neil Cox blood…………..topped off with a great cross that Sir Les buried with his napper.
I am often asked “Who is the best footballer you have seen in a black n white shirt” ?
1) For consistency Pedro
2) For pure skill Daveed
Both of which are true greats, the likes of which I fear we will not see for a very long time.