“Football is the greatest and the most popular sport on the planet and it needs to be respected. The only way to make that happen is that the biggest decisions, taken by FIFA must be transparent, crystal clear, common-sense, fair, honest, balanced and dignified.”
David Ginola’s sensational campaign to ‘Reboot Football’ is the breath of fresh air that the world’s greatest sport needs to clean up its act.
‘Can we have our game back please?’ is the slogan of his Paddy Power-sponsored campaign aiming to usher in a new era of openness and fairness at FIFA HQ for which he will be paid £250,000.
The 47 year-old former Newcastle, France, Paris St Germain and Spurs winger has declared his intent to stop Sepp Blatter’s attempt to win a fifth term at the helm of football’s chief governing body, at the ripe age of 78, and become the new, modern President of FIFA himself.
He faces competition from Arabian Prince Ali Bin Hussein, as well as countryman Jerome Champagne, yet just as he did on the pitch, Ginola’s campaign promises to deliver that famous ‘je ne sais quoi’ that will leave opponents trailing in his wake and swing the popular vote his way.
Despite his effortless ease with the media, the modelling and acting background his good looks granted him and the campaign’s backing by notorious betting firm Paddy Power, do not presume this is a case of style over substance—Ginola’s is a serious mission to recover the game he loves from a regime that has mired in it controversy and corruption.
‘It’s A Proper Job” – Football Is Worth It
It is a bold attempt to rescue the game he – and billions around the world – love from the clutches of the money men and businessmen that have corrupted its soul over decades of mismanagement and unethical misrule.
“Football has been my life – from dreaming about being a professional when I was nine, to signing my first contract at 19.
“I’ve experienced the ups and downs and the word respect is used a a lot – more as a word than as an action.
“This is a game we earn a living from because people buy season tickets, match tickets, subscriptions to football on television and it’s long overdue that more respect was shown to that, shown to those people who make the sport.
“We can make football and its decisions respected again.
“Football belongs to those who love it. A leader should be rewarded for what he or she does in favour of those people, not in favour of themself.”
The Frenchaman is under no illusions about the size of the task he faces –
‘It is a proper job. It is probably the hardest job of my entire life. Being a footballer is an easy task, compared to what I’m doing right now…
‘The most important thing I guess is to be standing in front of you today, thinking, well, what can I change? What can I do for the game?
‘Crucial to that element is the right of football fans to have a say in who will represent them at the highest level in the game. We will deliver a new and fair democratic process.
‘The football community will be asked to elect our officials. There’s no room for doubt in football. If we cannot remove all suspicion and doubt from football, then how can we trust?’
These are intriguing statements by a man who graced the highest stages of the game – he holds the unique honour of being the only Frenchman to be named Footballer of the Year both in his native France and adopted England.
As a Newcastle fan, Ginola was a joy to watch when he evolved Kevin Keegan’s men into The Entertainers in the mid-1990s and his star never shone brighter at St James Park than when he rocketed in the second goal of five as Newcastle swept Manchester United aside, although his goal against Ferencvaros remains one of the game’s greatest ever.
He effortlessly made the transition into the sporting media and coaching world after his retirement following a medal-decorated career working in TV around the world as well as numerous charities such as the Red Cross Anti-Landmine Trust.
His career continued in various Ambassadorial roles – for the Paris 2012 Olympic bid, the successful France 2018 Ryder Cup bid and the unsuccessful England 2018 World Cup campaign, which provided invaluable experience of the machinations of FIFA.
Journalist Graham Hunter compares the Frenchman to great modern football men like Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klinsmann and Joan Laporta in terms of charisma, energy and vision as he outlined why he sees David as the ideal FIFA President:
“He’s not perfect, but he’s a man of substance, integrity and vision and it’s what FIFA needs”
Perhaps some of the issues he intends to address are those that prevented him being even more of a success in the game as a player such as extra protection for the most, gifted attacking players who make watching the game worthwhile as he was often singled out as the danger man and persistently fouled by opposition cloggers notably Nigel Winterburn and Arsenal in a League Cup Quarter Final in 1996.
His point about increasing trust in the people who run the sport and removing doubt from football is the one every fan wants to hear and see put into action for the good of the game.
Hopefully, such honourable aims when detailed will extend to increased technology and video replays to ensure complete on-pitch fairness and a reward for attacking, skilfull football.
He may even seek to cut the Gordian knot of over-complicated FIFA bureaucracy—the kind that banned his countryman and fellow exciting ex-Toon French winger Hatem Ben Arfa from playing the game he loves this week on a technicality.
The commitment of figures like Ginola to sporting ideals must be commended and supported and has been by the Change Fifa group among others. A donation to Team Ginola is a vote for, modernity, fairness and football and against a current regime that is turning people off football.
God speed and May The Force Be With You, David Ginola, you may be the beautiful game’s only hope.
Vive la Revolution!
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