Gary Neville lamented the decline of clubs like Newcastle United in his Daily Telegraph column on Friday, which put us mind of Roy Keane's eight year old comments on footballers' unwillingness to travel to the dowdy north of England to play their football.
The club have been crabbing around the nether reaches of the Premier League table for the past couple of seasons, and Neville harked back to the days when Newcastle boasted players like David Ginola, Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and were capable of beating Manchester United 5-0.
Two players who featured that famous day in late 1996 have a difference of opinion about the worth of French football.
Shearer blasted the workrate of Newcastle's recent signing Florian Thauvin, tossing out a throwaway comment suggesting that one 'might get away with that in the French league but in the Premier League you have to track back'.
Never one to let a slight go (himself and Houllier have been at each others throats since November 1993) Ginola has attacked his former teammate for arrogance on Canal+.
It is an arrogant comment. With everything Ligue 1 has brought to the Premier League in terms of players, he should show a bit of respect.
The view from the comments sections of the UK is that those soft French lads don't bust a gut on a pitch and take a bit of reasonable criticism off it.
