I gave Newcastle my word and stuck to it even after Arsenal phoned me to offer a contract

David Ginola has revealed that he turned down a move to Arsenal after giving Newcastle United his word.

Ginola was a man in demand back in the summer of 1995. The PSG star met with Johan Cruyff, his idol, who wanted to sign the Frenchman for Barcelona, but the Catalan giants were ultimately unable to make room for another overseas player at a time when only three foreigners were allowed to line up in European club competitions.

Newcastle pounced. Ginola was in Amsterdam when he received a call from Terry McDermott and the winger agreed to join the Magpies.

Remarkably, just a few hours later, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein phoned Ginola to ask if he had signed for Newcastle because the Gunners wanted to offer him a contract. Although Ginola had not yet put pen to paper, the Frenchman did not go back on his verbal agreement with Newcastle.

“I gave my word to Terry Mac and Kevin Keegan,” he recalled on Not Just Football. “I said, ‘OK, it’s done.’ What is important for me after all those years – we’re talking about 20 years ago – is the man you are. It’s not the player you were. The best compliment I can receive these days is, ‘We like you as a man’.

“You play 20 years in your career, but the rest of the time you’re still a man having your life. If you are just an a——, it doesn’t work. It’s very important for me after all those years to meet people and they say, ‘Oh, I like you. You’re a good man.’ It’s better than, ‘Oh you were a good player.'”

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *