GINOLA, COOLEST MAN IN TOON
... but David loved a cigarette so much he set off smoke alarm in a plane toilet
EXCLUSIVE
JOHN RICHARDSON
By
DAVID GINOLA has apparently been allowed the odd cigarette away from the cameras on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
That prompted a wry smile from former Newcastle United team-mate John Beresford.
Because Beresford – part of Kevin Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ who went agonisingly close to winning the Premier League – became used to Ginola’s smoking habits during the Frenchman’s two seasons on Tyneside.
Beresford recalled: “Being Newcastle, there would usually be long journeys home.
“Thankfully, in those days, we often ended up winning away games, so the gaffer would get drinks on board, and we’d often stop off for fish and chips.
“The music would be playing, it was always a good atmosphere.
“Suddenly, after what must have been David Ginola’s first away trips, Lee Clark, who was sitting at the back along with two of the younger players – Steve Watson and Robbie Elliott – shouted at me to come to the back of the coach.
“They all wanted me to listen to David, who was giving them a lecture on how to look after their bodies in that sophisticated French accent.
“‘Boys, you need to be more professional, you need to look after yourselves. Do you realise how important it is to do that?’ He was watching them drink cans of beer while eating fish and chips.
“They can’t help laughing because he’s spouting on about keeping their bodies healthy while he is busily smoking a cigarette!
“After that, seemingly at every opportunity, David would have a fag on.
“None of the other players smoked. To him, it seemed the norm, to have a cigarette and a glass of wine. But it certainly didn’t prevent him turning in some great performances for Newcastle.”
It is here that this reporter has to confess to helping fan the Ginola flames during a pre-season tour of the Far East.
Before leaving Japan, he had asked me to buy some duty-free cigarettes and secretly hand them over on the plane. That was dutifully done, but everyone’s peace was interrupted a couple of hours into the flight back home by an alarm going off in one of the toilets.
Smoke was seeping under the door – and the smoking Frenchman was rumbled.
Beresford added: “Kevin Keegan would often turn a blind eye to it all because he just knew it was his thing and, as long as he did the business on the pitch, that was all that mattered.
“It’s not a surprise to hear that he has been up to his old tricks again on I’m A Celebrity. I’ve been watching bits of the programme only because David (right) is on it. It’s great to see the women swooning over him just like they did in Newcastle.
“Everywhere he went, you would see all the girls slavering over him.
“He has always been cool. He’s such a great guy, though – he’s got that way about him.
David also certainly had great ability as a footballer.
“People used to think I would get angry with him because he wouldn’t run back, but I wasn’t bothered.
“I knew my job as leftback was to get the ball to him as often as I could.
“Sometimes I’d go on the overlap, even though I knew I wouldn’t get a pass. But if my run took out a defender, so he could go one-onone on somebody, then great stuff.
“I know he appreciated me as I did him.
“They were great times.”