David Ginola is frustrated about Newcastle United, and he talked about his former club when he was speaking at the launch of Yahoo’s new Fantasy Football mobile app.
David Ginola – while he was a young lad at Newcastle
David was only at Newcastle for two seasons from 1995 until he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur, where he starred for the London side over the next three seasons.
The 47 year-old has been saying the Newcastle club just doesn’t have the necessary structure to be successful, but he also goes on about some other things that have happened recently that frustrate him:
“It is always the same with Newcastle, always. When you go back to the 1990’s and in the 2000’s there was a lot of expectation at the beginning of every season and you know it is a big disappointment when they don’t do well.¨
“They have spent a lot of money on players, but there seems to be no structure in the club to make sure players will fit together in the dressing room. Also they had Alan Pardew doing some crazy things last year like head-butting.¨
“That was a bit of a surprise for me as a manager because you need to keep your calm on the bench especially towards your players.¨ ¨They need to see someone on the bench who is in charge of the situation.¨
“So Newcastle is a big question mark for me because they have the potential to be one of the best teams in the country but there’s always a but.” “They bought 10 or 12 French players. I don’t know why. I want to see Newcastle doing well. It seems last year they had a good spell for a while, they were fifth or sixth in the table.¨
“Tim Krul was goalkeeper of the month, Alan Pardew was manager of the month and then all of a sudden they dropped their form. This is where you saw the club struggling because of a decision they made.”
“They appointed a Director of Football in the name of Joe Kinnear, I don’t know why, honestly I don’t know why.¨ “It is not relevant. It is not relevant for Newcastle United and we are talking about a very special club.”
¨Yohan Cabaye left the club at Christmas which I think was a bargain for Paris Saint Germain.¨ “When you lose your best player what can you do? When I think about the other players in the dressing room, you get rid of the best player and they think, what about us? You do not want us to get results?”
“Geordies are very special people and I think people working in the club need to understand what Newcastle United means for the people, and that is the most important thing. I played for them for two years and I was amazed at how passionate Geordies are behind the club.”
David makes some good points there – and selling Yohan Cabaye in January definitely was one of the reasons Newcastle’s season fell off big time, and it’s probably also one of the reasons Loic Remy doesn’t want to join Newcastle – because we are not ambitious enough.
Mike Ashley showed clearly that at Newcastle under his watch, money is more important than the team, and that doesn’t go down well with the players – who after all are the team.
So there are some of the problems we have at the club at the moment, but we can still do very well this season, and the owner may even have learned from his many past mistakes.
Hope so.
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18 comments so far
Spuggy
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:06 PM
Comment #1Repost
Whilst a lot of talk at the moment centre’s on getting a proven striker in which would be ideal, I thinke Ayoze may be the suprise package this season.
He has pace and flair but importantly signs of that composure in front of goal that top frontmen have. Early days, but Riviere needs more composure in front of goal as does Sissoko. That said Riviere’s pace is exciting and he definitely gets in the face of defenders more than the likes of Cisse or even Obertan does.
Very impressed with Ayoze so far!
Markaccus
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:06 PM
Comment #2I agree with what optomistic says about Jonas. He wouldnt get much playing time now anyway, but if its true that he is frozen out becausr of the contract thing, it is a disgrace. This is another pathetic penny pinching measure from Ashley, and a loyal player is being dumped on because of it. I even think had he not beem loaned out last season, we woulf have gotten a few more points by using him to play keep ball in the last 20 mins. He was a pardew faveorite after all, and goofy might not have been so tired if he had someone to give him a rest.
Transfer Sage
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:09 PM
Comment #3markaccus
Yeh but if he gets another year on 50k a week that’s 2.5mil down the drain for a player we don’t want anymore.
He is free to return home and train, not been made to stay with the kids and the club are willing to let him move on.
i have no issue with this
israeli_fan
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:12 PM
Comment #4stuart no9-
while i agree with you that some of our performances last season was (very) poor, a mid table team like ourselves simply cant attack and dominate teams for 90 minutes.
the only teams who do it are- barcelona, madrid, bayern.. and thats it.
we are in the level of aston villa, everton, spurs… any one of those teams play good week in week out for 90 minutes? the answer is no.
SBR was a great manager, but people forget that back then it was easier (by far) to be top 4.. you didnt have city, chelsea and even tottenham as a top teams.
we probably have the 8 best squad in the leauge, and if we finish in top 8- it would be a successful season
HWTL
Markaccus
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:13 PM
Comment #5T sage
I see what you are saying, but if that is the case why dont they just agree to end the contract by mutual consent? We get his wages off the books, and it is easier for him to get a new club if he is unattached. Could have even agreed say 3 months wages as a pay off. As it is, if he doesnt find another club, we will be paying him at least 6 months till the december window.
optimistic prime
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:14 PM
Comment #6“Geordies are very special people and I think people working in the club need to understand what Newcastle United means for the people, and that is the most important thing. I played for them for two years and I was amazed at how passionate Geordies are behind the club.”
I always got the feeling Ginola disliked us after he left for spuds, but it seems he understands us better than most!
Maybe we should get him in as a coach?
If he can’t coach very well I’m sure he could sort out some of the shocking haircuts and fashion victims at the club 😉
Graeme
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:17 PM
Comment #7Learned from his past mistakes?? Yeah, right.
It is more than 2 seasons ago that P45DUE let it slip that FCB had asked him “Where is our new CB?” The question is still waiting for an answer.
Sold Ba, our “Proper CF” didnt replace him, got a loan player in to save money, without an “Option to Purchase” in the deal. Brought in another loan player who just didn’t produce the goods, but probably not his fault.
Another window now coming towards the end and we STILL have no replacement CB or CF to speak of. Saylor needs to be moved on, this window preferably, to bring some height and pace to central defence.
Not buying a CF is a gamble. If Cisse comes good following his surgery and the implant of some skillful mid-fielders / forwards, then we could well be ok. If Cisse returns and doesn’t regain his form then we are royally screwed in the goal scoring department.
Markaccus
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:18 PM
Comment #8Ginola may have had the same on-pitch attitude as HBA, but he was loved by his team mates. Maybe we could employ Ginola as a mentor to help benny be the player he wants to be, but without being a cnut to the rest of the players!!
Ginola….. Special Executive in charge of Glory-boy players 😀
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:20 PM
Comment #9Ginola also said “Pardew hasn’t done much at Newcastle. Beside Wenger he the manager who has been in his job the longest without being successful. Pardew is not the man because he does not bring success to the club”.
optimistic prime
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:21 PM
Comment #10Markacus transfer.
My point really is if we’re keeping Benny to play reserves football even though we don’t want him then surely we should have kept Guti and do the same thing.
I’d be more than happy for Guti to train with development squa or academy, I’m sure his attitude and proffesonalism would be more of benefit to the younger players than Bennys tantrums would ever be.
To me they have the two players treatment the wrong way round, that said maybe it’s because they think it’s safer to have HBA in the toon where they can control what he says or does.
I may have answered my own question 😉
israeli_fan
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Comment #11Greame- man utd need midfielders and young defenders for about 4 years now, and they didnt addressed it yet.
Chelsesa needed a striker in the last 2 years and bought one only now.
Arsenal needed a good striker since henry left- and they bought now AS.
its not football manager when you buy and sell players in a day. it takes time and its better to scout to find the perfect player for us (i.e cabaye, debs, SDJ, cabella, tiote) players that we scouted for years instead buy just for the sake of it (luque, owen, kluivert etc.)
Transfer Sage
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:23 PM
Comment #12markaccus
if you were jonas and struggling to get a club would you chuck away a reported 50k a week contract early? I know I wouldn’t.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:25 PM
Comment #13Why wasn’t Jonas sold last summer if he has the so-called clause in his contract?
Transfer Sage
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:27 PM
Comment #14jesper
we needed him the start of last season, I think the club are trying to sell now, but no takers who will come close to his wages by all accounts.
optimistic prime
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:30 PM
Comment #15Jesper
I though when he went on loan last year it was actually his last contracted year!
It wasn’t until pre season I realised he had another year.
Transfer
I understand your point and I’d do the same. I just find it odd the so called trouble maker hangs around development squad while a model pro is seemingly banished.
martoon
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:30 PM
Comment #16Markaccus @5 – Maybe they have offered him a deal but Jonas has said no. I know I would, why take part payment when you can dig your heels in and sit on your backside and draw your full pay. If he does manage to arrange a new club he can then cancel his contract with us.
Graeme
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:32 PM
Comment #17Israeli fan @ 11 – correct. Thats why we have a scouting team and a rather good one at that. Do you seriously think that they have not been looking at replacements for some time?
We allegedly “Bid” for a CF last January – about 40% below the asking price, which was laughed at. We gave up.We have been linked with a number of good strikers, some fully scouted for many, many seasons – where are they / he??
I also think you will find that Arsenal & Chelski are looking at a completely different market place for their players to the one we operate in!!
Transfer Sage
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:33 PM
Comment #18OP
Yeh I can’t understand keeping somebody who ‘lacks professionalism’ around to train with the kids, the future of the club.
Could go one of two ways, they see what happens if you don’t pull your weight or they copy his ‘bad influence’ as well as question why it’s a punishment for him to be with them.