Daveed gone barking mad.........

DAVID GINOLA has caused a stir again with more revelations from his upcoming autobiography, this time aimed at Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan.

Ginola claims that Alan Shearer conspired with Kenny Dalglish to force him out of Newcastle because he was jealous of the skillful wingers' popularity with the Geordie faithful.

"When he arrived in the summer of 1996, he knew that mine was the best selling shirt at Newcastle and I suppose I was a threat to his chances of being the fans' favourite", Ginola said of the former England captain. "His aim was to be the prodigal son, returning to his Geordie homeland, and if he could keep me quite he knew he would be No.1."

The Aston Villa star then accused Shearer of influencing Dalglishs' decision to drop him from the team making it difficult for him to stay at the club.

"If you have the captain of the team and the manager working together against you, then you have no chance."

Ginola, whose book is being serialised in The Daily Mail, then tells of his disappointment at Kevin Keegans' refusal to let him go to Barcelona I his first season at St James' Park. He says Keegan would not let another popular player leave the club so soon after Andy Cole's departure.

"It took a long time for me to come to terms with the fact that one of my dreams had been taken away from me. I felt like I had been stabbed in the back."

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Answers

Surely he can't blame Keegan for not letting him go when he'd just sold Cole. Imagine how we would have reacted to that one.

Ginola: Them's the breaks lad.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

These prima donnas just have no concept of the meaning of the simple phrase "signing a contract".

It's amazing how much animosity there is towards AS in the game. Given his prowess as a goalscorer, I would guess that most Managers will have sought to get close to Alan - apart from the Dutchman that is - and that this will have bred an inevitable envy and distrust among the 'other' stars at any given Club.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I read this with interest. It seems to indicate that the factionalism in the club began with the arrival of TSM rather than Gullit. It seems that Gullit chose to back the wrong camp. TSM would not speak to Ginola and others at training but would spend ages with Shearer.

Ginola says that TSM undid all the good work that Keegan had done. So nothing new there then. I think Gin is probably OTT in claiming that Al wanted rid of Gin because he was jealous of support for Gin and felt threatened as the fans number 1. Apart from that everything he says fits into place in terms of what happened at the time and since.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

More than a little arrogant I feel. Shearer (Gullit apart) has consistently been a manager's favourite over the years. Either he's fantastically devious along the lines of Nasty Nick (although obviously more subtle and successful) or he genuinely works for the team and for the manager.

Ginola on the other hand has always struggled with managers, even coming over from France as a pariah. No doubting his ability, but he seems to think he is doing everybody a favour by gracing the team with his presence, and nothing else is required. It's all one way, and it only works when it's in his favour, not in the team's favour. It obviously wasn't in Newcastle's interests to sell him to Barcelona at that time, but he fails to understand this. What sort of arrangement did he think he was in? One that he could relinquish when or if something 'better' came up?

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Ginola clearly states that "I can think of no forward I would rather have in my team than Alan Shearer" and adds "but I got the impression he didn't like me from day 1."

"If you have the captain of the team and the manager working together against you then you have no chance"

"I don't have time for the man (Shearer) but as a footballer I respect him a lot."

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Not that Shearer WAS the captain then.. I can't wiat for Shearer to write his full, no holds barred autobiography so we can get his perspective on Ferguson, Cole, Graham Kelly, Ginola etc.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000