David Ginola : Le Magnifique - My Autobiography - Hardcover

David Ginola

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000710099X ISBN 13: 9780007100996

Publisher: Willow, 2000

Synopsis

The eagerly awaited autobiography of one of the most colourful and enigmatic footballers in the game today. Wherever he has played, David Ginola has dazzled with his virtuoso skills, while off the field he has become a major sex symbol and an international celebrity.

Ginola is a man in demand. Everywhere he goes he attracts attention, whether it be mesmerising defenders on the field or parading down the catwalks of Paris and Milan away from football. He’s as likely to be seen making the headlines in Hello! and the tabloid front pages as in the sports columns.

But is there more to Ginola, the ‘sex symbol’? In his autobiography, he provides a compelling insight into his private life which few outsiders know about. He talks candidly about the women closest to him, his work for the Red Cross and anti-landmines campaign and the pressures of being a huge media star constantly under the spotlight.

It wasn’t always so good for Ginola. In his early years in France, he describes the traumas of his army national service and how, as a footballer, he went from being the most hated man in France to Footballer of the Year in the same season. He describes in detail his relationship with a certain Eric Cantona and his bust-ups with the authorities, as well as a reviled Gerard Houllier, which led to his controversial exclusion from the 1998 French World Cup squad.

On joining a Newcastle team under Kevin Keegan, Ginola was soon given the freedom of the Toon. He writes openly about those exciting days at St James’s Park, before the arrival of Kenny Dalglish led to his acrimonious departure to Spurs. Ginola is forthright about his mixed feelings on the arrival of George Graham at White Hart Lane and how their relationship developed, and his future at the club.

More recently, his critics have branded Ginola a cheat for diving. Ginola responds honestly to these accusations, as he does to the controversy surrounding his comments to the Oxford Union about Alan Shearer and foreigners in the game.

About this title

Product Description:

Autobiography of the French footballer and shampoo model. 8vo. 312pp. 24 pages of photographs. Dust-wrapper, very good.

Review:

"David Ginola is the murderer of the team ... he sent an Exocet missile through the heart of French football ... David Ginola committed a crime against the team, I repeat, a crime against the team."(Gerard Houllier)

Artistic, compelling, inspiring awe and derision in equal measure--and that's just the photo on the cover--Le Magnifique chronicles the life and times of David Ginola, who pirouetted into the Premiership in 1995, and has strutted around in the limelight ever since. As extravagantly vain as he is breathtakingly gifted--has any footballer's autobiography ever included quite so many magnificently smouldering photos?--Ginola is so shamelessly enamoured with himself that at times it's hard to take his version of events seriously, which will come as no surprise to the legions who dismiss him as a glory boy player more interested in split ends than tackling back. But the upside for readers of this wonderfully entertaining book, is that Ginola spills the beans, confronts his critics and has absolutely no qualms about sticking the boot into all the dullards, hypocrites and schemers who have frustrated him with their jealousy (of his talent and popularity), their stupidity (for not recognising his talent and popularity) and the petty, ugly way in which they conducted themselves (around someone so talented and popular). The hit-list runs to pretty much a who's who of European football, but fans of George Graham, Gerard Houllier, Alan Shearer and Kenny Dalglish should be warned that their favourites get a particularly good going over. Ginola's achievements have been significant, including cups and a championship in France, and a pile of "Player of the Year" awards, but there is no escaping the fact that his controversial exile from the French national team which went on to win World and European championships, has blighted his career. But for all the lingering sense of disappointment about a uniquely entertaining player being denied his place on the world stage, there is a flamboyance about Ginola that is irrepressible, and this book is as compelling as the man himself. A (hair)cut above the usual footballers' autobiographies. --Alex Hankin

About this edition

• Publisher: Willow
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 000710099X
• ISBN 13: 9780007100996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Neil Silver