Happy Birthday to one of our all time favourites. Wor Davide is 45 today. Hope he's still enjoying life and has a great one. 1967 David Ginola born, Gassin, France. (1995-97) Prodigiously-talented winger who had played for Toulon, Racing Club Paris and Brest before moving on to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992. Brought to Tyneside at a cost of £2.5m in the run up to the 1995/96 season, Ginola impressed in pre-season friendlies along with fellow new faces Ferdinand and Barton. A league debut in a 3-0 opening day beating of Coventry City at SJP set the tone, with home fans instantly impressed by Ginola's two-footed dribbling and shooting abilities. His first Newcastle goal came in a victory at Sheffield Wednesday as United instantly hit form, with Ginola finishing on the losing side just twice in his first twenty appearances. Things started to unravel slightly in 1996 though, with his dismissal in a League Cup defeat at Arsenal and a further snub from France with no international recall - despite their Euro 96 home ground being SJP. The following season had its moments for Ginola, with stunning strikes at the Gallowgate End against Manchester United and Ferencvaros in October 1996. However, those were his final goals for the club and following the departure of Kevin Keegan, Ginola featured only eleven times under the management of Kenny Dalglish - his mood hardly helped by a break-in at his house that unsettled his family. Moving on to Spurs for £2m in July 1997, he was quickly joined at White Hart Lane by Les Ferdinand and the pair appeared in the 1999 League Cup Final victory over Leicester City. Later moves took him to Aston Villa and Everton but the magic was gone and various off-field interests were what kept Ginola in the public eye - a series of advertising appearances for cars, clothes & shamoo giving way to an attempt at acting. 2008 then saw Ginola back on Tyneside, to launch his own award-winning wine - Coste Brulade rosé. Two years later, he then had a short spell as a BBC TV match pundit. Never mind Shearer - for us the defining image of our Premiership pomp remains a sublime Ginola centre from the left being buried by a Ferdinand header into an opponent's net. Merci Beaucoup. From NUFC.com
Dalglish needed to be crucified upside down for letting Ginola and many other class acts go. My hatred for the man has not ceased from that moment and continues today
Dalglish was still living on former glories and didn't like to see somebody much better than he ever was getting all the fame and glory. Sad ignorant fool that he was.
