Football: Ginola steels himself for a lengthy spell in the French wilderness

The Monday Interview

David Ginola has had to get used to rejection. Tottenham's French international felt unwanted by Kenny Dalglish at Newcastle and has had to come to terms with his continued omission from his national team. The thought of missing the World Cup in his homeland next year is particularly hard to bear.

In a recent survey by a national newspaper in France, readers were asked to vote for their favourite French footballer. A year ago, Eric Cantona probably would have won by a mile. But now? Zidane perhaps? Or his Juventus team-mate, Deschamps? And what about Desailly, or Djorkaeff, all important members of the squad that the French manager, Aime Jacquet, hopes will win the World Cup on home soil next year?

The answer was none of these. Instead, it was a player whose last meaningful act for the national side was to lose possession in injury time at the Parc des Princes, allowing Bulgaria to snatch a victory and so qualify for the 1994 World Cup in France's place.

David Ginola was forgiven, but not everyone has forgotten. He has played for France since, but the last time was more than 18 months ago. Like Cantona, he was forced to watch while his compatriots reached the semi- finals of Euro 96 in his adopted country, even playing two of their games at his home ground in Newcastle. "That was hard," he said. "But next year is going to be harder."

The forthcoming World Cup could, and many would say should, represent the highlight of Ginola's career. As a teenager in Toulon he lived through the greatest moment in French footballing history, when the team of Platini, Tigana and Giresse won the European Championship in Paris.

Jacquet's side has a chance for even more glory, but his critics say his team is not one to win French hearts, let alone those further afield.

Jacquet's intransigence over a selection policy of minimum flair for maximum efficiency has already contributed hugely to Cantona's sudden retirement.

Ginola is not beaten yet, but you get the impression that whatever happens this season at his new club, Tottenham, if he is ignored next summer it would break his heart. "It's not looking good," he admitted. Ginola was aware of the poll that had taken place in France, so I asked what his reaction had been. "Merde," he said; if only he had known they loved him.

"I'm not surprised by the public, by the people who go to the matches year after year," he then added. "If you pass on a positive message in what you do on the field, the people are receptive and they want to come back.

"The press are interested in other things. They need scoops, results, but the bloke who comes along with his son, he couldn't care less about that, he just wants to be entertained. So I'm not completely surprised they voted for me."

Lying on the grass and lapping up the unseasonal October sunshine at the Tottenham training ground, Ginola seemed at home in his new surroundings. "The weather's like France at the moment," he said. "My skin needs the sunshine. The sun was always shining when I grew up in France. I find it gives me energy."

In fluent English, he dealt politely and extensively with a battalion of reporters, anxious to talk about last Saturday's return trip to St James' Park. But reverting to his own tongue and talking of France 98, his mood darkened.

"It's a year and a half since I played for France, and it's going to be hard to get back in the side," he said, looking down at the ground, picking up stones and casting them away, perhaps in the direction of an imaginary figurine of Jacquet. He will not openly criticise the manager while he still has a chance of playing.

"It's a question of the right moment, the right time, I don't know... All I know is I've come to Tottenham to show what I can do, and I'm going to do all I can this year to make a good impression."

It is unlikely to involve compromise. The hair, though greying prematurely, is still defiantly long enough for him to walk unnoticed on to the set of the Three Musketeers should he ever, like Cantona, forsake football for a career in the cinema. Cantona would always be the villain of the piece but Ginola, with his outrageous good looks and easy charm, would have to play D'Artagnan.

Jacquet, though, was not the only manager to refuse to be seduced: Kenny Dalglish gave the Frenchman short shrift when he took over from Kevin Keegan at Newcastle, and Keegan himself sometimes despaired of a genius who too often went missing for large parts of a game.

In addition, Ginola never attempted to disguise his distaste for the defensive duties expected of a modern winger. "A footballer must do what he does best for his team," he said. "What I know how to do best is get forward, challenge defenders, make goals and score goals.

"When I'm asked to defend, defend, defend, I lose a little of my impact, my principal strength. It is a delicate subject. I admit all teams have to think about defence, but when you're asked to do too much you lose the energy to do what you're best at."

In Tottenham's last home match, against Wimbledon, Ginola began wide on the left, but soon roamed inside in order to create from midfield. So what position does he prefer? "Free," he says. Like against Wimbledon, perhaps? "Like the wind," comes the instant reply.

Given Gerry Francis' track record, the Tottenham manager is unlikely to allow Ginola the kind of latitude he craves unless he achieves the consistency required. After an indifferent start, Ginola has shown encouraging signs in his last two home games. But on Saturday he was not given a warm welcome back by the Newcastle fans, and another ineffectual performance came to a premature end through injury midway through the second half. After their 1-0 defeat, goals remain in short supply, and the Tottenham jury is still out on the Frenchman.

For his part, Ginola is encouraged by the atmosphere at his new club. "The spirit is very good, and the team are very close, especially now," he said. "We haven't had great results, and if the atmosphere is good when the situation is not fantastic, it is a good sign."

Whatever the situation Ginola finds himself in now, it is undoubtedly better than the day Dalglish arrived at Newcastle. Then it seemed to be only a question of time before Ginola moved on. "Dalglish had seen me play, he knew what I could do and if he'd wanted to keep me he could have done," Ginola said.

"We never talked very much, and when we did it was never quite on the most friendly terms. It was very difficult for me to understand what he was saying, which was a pity because there were certain messages I would have liked to convey to him.

"You can't really know someone by what he says, it's more through what he does, but I would have liked him to know that I'm a straight and honest person. Unfortunately the impression we had of each other was never very clear."

Now Ginola has arrived with his family in London, and while he may have left part of his heart on Tyneside he is excited about his new life. "London's a fantastic city," he said. "It's a little like Paris, but more mad, more extravagant. Paris is more conservative.

"I do miss good restaurants. I miss good food and good wine. It's part of my French culture. We like to spend a long time at the table. Here it's a packet of crisps, a sandwich and it's finished. I like to sit around the table and chat with friends, my wife, my children. It's an education. Not everyone's like that, but I like it."

When Ginola first came to England, he and Cantona were the only ones to have made the trip across the Channel and stayed, but now the French, with Arsene Wenger a veritable Trojan horse, are invading in numbers.

Chelsea's Franck Leboeuf was one of the first, and Ginola is looking forward to spending more time with an old friend. "We started playing football together when we were 16 or 17 in Toulon," Ginola explained. "We were always room-mates."

Another acquaintance of not so long ago has also just moved to London, to Fulham in fact. But Ginola says he has not heard from his old manager yet.

"I don't think I'll be moving to Fulham," he says, laughing. "But if Kevin Keegan rings me I'd love to have a round of golf with him."