Cisse: “I have done nothing yet”

Posted on May 24th, 2012 | 11 Comments |

Papiss Cisse interview with a French website/magazine.
White rice is the secret!
Newcastle United number 9 Papiss Cisse has been talking about his (half) season with Newcastle and claims the best is yet to come.

Whilst I was browsing around some French sites I came across an interview with Papiss Demba Cisse. I found it on a site called ‘Furturs Medias’, although I’m not sure if that’s where it originated.

Anyway, I ran it through Google Translate and it came back with something vaguely resembling English, which I’ve then tried to ‘tidy up’ with my grade 4 CSE French. That sounds like recipe for disaster but I hope the result is something close to what he actually said.

Talking about his first game for the club, he said:

Honestly, I did not wish Best was injured. I did not even know I was going to play, because there was Ameobi, another great striker of the club, who has been there for a long time. I even call him ‘Mr Ameobi’ because he’s such a nice guy who works for the team.

He then says something about Jonas that I can’t translate but I like to think it was about how he parts his ponytail. Then I picked up the translation when he says:

When Demba scored the first goal I thought ‘it’s going well’ and at the end of the second half I scored the second goal and we won 2-1. The ball eluded Demba and came to me and I tried not to think too much about, I just reacted and it’s in the net ‘goal!’

Cisse then goes on to suggest that his best is yet to come:

Thank you God, Alhamdulillah [Praise God], with what I’m doing, I know that my future holds something good. Inshallah [God willing]. I have not done anything yet, we’ll see.

We then get around to the game against Chelsea and Papiss admits that Didier Drogba is his idol:

I’m not ashamed to say that he is my idol. This is a great man. He is an inspiration to me, a monument. He was there to talk and laugh with me. He asked me ‘what do you eat?’. I said I eat niankatang [white rice] and he said he will start to eat it too

Papiss goes on to speak about the support he’s received at Newcastle and help he’s had from Demba Ba:

The people of Newcastle are very fond of football, they welcomed me and I was lucky to have found a friend, a compatriot and teammate in Demba Ba. It is he who translates for me. I understand English and speak a little, but he takes his time to explain to me so that everything is clear in my head. He told me where to go and where we should not set foot. He is someone who really helped me for my debut.

Finally, speaking a bit about his personal philosophy when it come to football, he says:

I am always patient and when they give me my chance, I always try to seize it. But this was not the best way possible, because Best was injured. There are some for whom happiness begins like that, I do not wish harm to anyone, but life is like that.

I continue to do black magic in my goals!

I do work hard at it. If I did not have football I would be unemployed – it’s my job. That’s why I do not ever neglect it. I will never hesitate to do the right thing to succeed. When I go to training, I give myself completely to be well on game day.

The best is yet to come.

Apologies for any inaccuracies in the translation – you can blame Miss Bayliss, my French Teacher for that. Her idea of motivation was a blackboard rubber to the back of the head.

Oddly, whenever I type up a translation like that, I find myself thinking in a sort of Franglais afterwards. So I go now, tea I drink most lightly then stairs I ascend to house heavens for mattress lie most sleepily underneath.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

  • No Related Posts


11 Responses

  1. He seems like a nice lad. I hope his English improves so he’s able to settle properly. This could be important if Demba Ba leaves. If Ba can’t find another club & his knee blows maybe Hugh will give him a job in the meantime.

  2. The nearest restaurant to my house down here in London is an African one which serves curry goat and “niankatang” amongst other things. I’m definitely going to try some of both, then go straight to Finsbury Park to experiment with some 30 yard banana shots.

  3. Listen Very Carefully, I will say thees only once…..

    Cissé est un très bon footballeur, qui va marquer beaucoup de buts pour United

    L’utd111

  4. well done for the translation! if you want me to correct to have a look over the french version i can!?? I speak french (lived there for 8 yrs and soon to be a translator :0)

  5. Sounds like he wants to score more. Good seeing as he scores when he wants ;)

  6. Dan mate – don’t go too far away!

    The way these French lads are flooding in, you’ll be a good lad to have around mon ami!