David Ginola: Former Tottenham and Newcastle heart-throb and model died for eight minutes and was told he was too fat to play
France star has done it all from replacing Jennifer Aniston in haircare adverts, to being on Dancing with the Stars, winning awards for his wine and clashing memorably with Gerard Houllier
Gavin Newsham
DAVID GINOLA has pretty much done it all in a remarkable career that includes modelling, acting, dancing, wine-making... oh, and being a footballer too.
He recently graced screens as the smooth-talking, dapper-looking master of ceremonies at the Ryder Cup in France.
Heart-throb David Ginola was famed for his skill, flowing locks and model good looksCredit: EPA
A true bon vivant - he is French, after all - Ginola, now 51, said: "I am a maverick. I accept that now."
And who can forget him, whistling down the wing for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle and Spurs?
The only blot on his copybook was his time with the French national team where he won just 17 caps over five years, failing to establish himself as a regular with Les Bleus.
More on that later...
Ginola in his Spurs glory days alongside Jurgen Klinsmann and Les FerdinandCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
He worshipped Johan Cruyff
As a boy David Ginola idolised the Ajax, Barcelona and Holland legend Johan Cruyff. He was, he said, "the only poster on my bedroom wall as a kid."
Years later, when Ginola was named as the PFA Player of the Year and the Football Writer's Footballer of the Year in 1999, Cruyff returned the compliment calling the French winger "the best player in the world".
Ginola idolised Johan CruyffCredit: AFP - Getty
The legendary Cruyff repaid Ginola's words when the latter was named PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1999Credit: Getty Images - Getty
He was told he was too fat to play
When he moved to Aston Villa in July 2000, aged 32, Ginola found himself challenged by his new manager John Gregory to prove that he still had what it took to make an impact in the top flight.
But Gregory didn't go about in the right way, accusing the Frenchman of being too fat for the job.
"The end for me was when I saw the back of The Sun with my head placed on the body of Jimmy Five Bellies after he said: "David Ginola is Mr Blobby."
He left Villa Park soon after.
The Frenchman was blasted for being bloated at VillaCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
But that was nothing on his relationship with Gerard Houllier
Their feud dates back to 1993 when Houllier was in charge of the French national team.
Les Bleus went into their final qualifying game for the 1994 World Cup Finals against Bulgaria needing just a draw to book their place in the USA, while the visitors needed to win to progress.
With seconds left and with the score at 1-1, Ginola had the ball in the corner and, rather than keep it there, elected to cross it. The ball sailed over the box, Bulgaria broke at pace and Emil Kostadinov lashed home a stoppage-time winner.
Ginola's career with the national side never matched his club heroicsCredit: Rex Features
Latest football features
When stars get angry after being subbed, like Messi's spat with Pochettino
BOOT-IFUL GAME
The biggest boot deals in football, from Neymar to Ronaldo to Messi & Mbappe
EL OF A PLAYER
Man Utd's Elanga, 19, idolised Thierry Henry & already has first senior goal
MR SPURS
He lives on £112m yacht and is pals with Tiger Woods.. meet Spurs owner Joe Lewis
After the game, Houllier blamed the defeat entirely on Ginola, arguing that the winger was "the assassin of the team" and that he had "sent an Exocet missile through the heart of French football."
It's criticism that Ginola has difficult to forget. "It is something which will haunt me for the rest of my life," he said in his autobiography in 2000. "I believe a weaker person would have been destroyed."
He won awards for his wine
A wine connoisseur, Ginola has a 3000-bottle cellar in and in his home in the south of France.
And he also has his own winery on his home turf in Provence.
The former Newcastle star has a natural love of wine and owns his own labelCredit: PA:Press Association
In 2008, he won a silver award at the World Cup of wine-tasting, the International Wine Challenge, for his Coste Brulade rosé, much to his delight.
"We work very hard and I'm very proud for all the lads," he said in true footballer fashion.
He died for eight minutes
During a charity match in May 2016 in Mandelieu-La Napoule, southern France, Ginola collapsed as he was running, falling face first into the turf.
Motionless, he was attended to by paramedics who discovered that he had swallowed his tongue and suffered a cardiac arrest.
"My heart stopped for eight minutes at least" he told The Sun exclusively last year. "There was no pulse. I was dead. Then the air ambulance arrived and they hooked me up to a defibrillator."
Footballs fans everywhere expected the worst for Ginola when his heart stopped beating for eight minutesCredit: AFP or licensors
But he remarkably went on to make a full recoveryCredit: ANDY COULDRIDGE
Four electirc shocks later, Ginola regained a pulse and later underwent a six-hour quadruple bypass operation that saved his life.
He was discharged from hospital 11 days later.
He learned a lot from England football fans
In 2013, Ginola was working as a pundit for BT Sport as they covered Newcastle's home game against Liverpool.
Stood next to Owen Hargraves and Steve MacManaman, Ginola didn't realise that he was live on air and when presenter Jack Humphrey turned his back on them, Ginola was seen making an offensive hand gesture.
Ginola apologised for making this rude hand gesture on live TVCredit: BT Sport
The former Spurs star says he learned a lot - not all good - from English fansCredit: Reuters
Safe to say it's something Ginola isn't proud of.
"We don't have this gesture in France, it is an English thing," he said in his defence. "But I am sorry I did it on television."
He followed his former French team-mate Eric Cantona into acting
Keen to get into acting, Ginola attended classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and has since appeared in a range of films, including his debut role as Didier the Butcher in the Anglo-French fim Rosbeef.
If you're not aware of the movie, it's a story of love, lust and a kilogram of sausages.
He replaced Jennifer Aniston as the face of L'Oreal and knows his way round a dancefloor
In 2011, Ginola signed up to be one of the contestants on the inaugural series of France's version of Strictly Come Dancing, Danse Avec les Stars.
Showing a real talent at the cha-cha-cha, the samba and the waltz, Ginola made it all the way to the final where he eventually came third.
It was long before that, though, that he forged a reputation as a hunk with great hair.
Ginola became the face of L'OrealCredit: The Advertising Archives
The heart-throb was used to hanging out with models such as Kate MossCredit: Reuters
Ginola signed with beauty and haircare giants L'Oreal in 1997 and, according to a report at the time, replaced Hollywood A-lister Aniston as the face of the bran for a marketing campaign.
He found his move to Newcastle something of a culture shock...
Or at least his wife did.
Having lived in Paris for four years, Ginola and his wife Coraline arrived in the north-east in July to find it "freezing cold".
Sensing their discomfort, then Magpies chairman Sir John Hall took Mrs Ginola on a tour of Newcastle.
When she later met up with her husband, she was still crying.
Ginola scored six goals in 58 games for the ToonCredit: Getty Images - Getty
It wasn't much better when he joined up with his team-mates
Once, when the Newcastle squad were on the team coach on the way to an away game, Ginola lit up a cigarette only to be reprimanded by then manager Kevin Keegan.
The game over, the team returned to the north-east, stopping off on the way for some food. "The players wanted fish and chips. It was full of grease and they were eating them out of old newspapers!" recalls Ginola. "Then they were eating chocolate and jelly babies! I was like, 'I have bad habits but yours are not exactly great'!
David Ginola