Last Updated: Tuesday 08 June 1999 14:05
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| Features > The Patrick Barclay Column |
'Ginola's The Best Choice For Footballer Of The Year - But He Isn't The Right One'
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IF ANYONE needed evidence that David Ginola is an extraordinary footballer, the Frenchman's goal against Chelsea on Monday evening supplied it. How many forwards have their casual tap-ins measured at 57mph?
The way he turned an injudicious pass by Frank Leboeuf into a clear opening was, almost literally, mesmeric: a spurt of pace, a sidestep that reduced the other half of France's World Cup Final central defence, Marcel Desailly, to a crumpled heap, followed by a shot that Kevin Hitchcock would probably have been unable to save... even if the poor keeper had not been bewildered into immobility.
And it was by no means Ginola's goal of the season. Leeds United, Barnsley and Manchester United have all been on the wrong end of better ones. So his claim to footballing genius is irresistible. Yet it is still considered something of a twin freak that both the football writers and his fellow professionals have voted Ginola their player of the year.
We know why. Both here and across the channel, his commitment to the team ethic is deemed suspect. He tends to dwell on the ball unduly. His goals, while usually spectacular, are too infrequent. All of which conspires to form the view that Tottenham's improvement has owed more to the organisation of manager George Graham than the flair of their most charismatic individual, who indeed contributed little to the Worthington Cup triumph at Wembley.
The truth about Ginola's clean sweep of the awards is that a) the votes, especially the players', are cast too early, before the Premiership, FA Cup and European trophy winners are known; and b) that Ginola has benefited from a split vote. Only a third of the writers plumped for him. A greater proportion failed to agree on which Manchester United player had done most to propel that club towards a unique treble.
I voted for Dwight Yorke, others for Roy Keane or David Beckham. In all, seven members of Alex Ferguson's squad were favoured. It was a back-handed compliment to United that so many players were regarded as fundamental to their success. The same applied to Arsenal.
What still has to be explained, however, is the general preference for Ginola over his club colleague Sol Campbell, who many would regard as Spurs' player of the year.
Call it an outbreak of romanticism, spring fever if you like, but I find it rather charming that even hard-bitten professionals should recognise that we shall remember Ginola's glorious flourishes when a million last-ditch tackles and timely interventions are forgotten. |
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