Alain Goma was asked
what he thought Jean Tigana had seen in him to make him Fulham's
most expensive signing. "I don't know - you should ask him," smiled
this engaging fellow, perhaps unaware that his new boss has less to say
in public than any prominent Frenchman since Eric Cantona. On second thoughts,
make that Marcel Marceau.
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Alain
Goma is at home with the French revolution |
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It is Tigana's
way, of course. To outsiders, there is no explanation, no talk for talk's
sake, no talk at all, actually. He is too busy fashioning a revolution
to let us in on its mechanics and who's complaining? Silence is fine
when we can all look and see the heady results.
Yes, it would have been interesting to hear the manager's views on
how his £4 million man will fit into the Fulham masterplan he is
preparing with a view to life in the Premiership next season but he was
nowhere to be seen nor heard as Goma took his media bow at the club's
Motspur Park training complex. Some managers like to bathe in reflected
glory, parading new signings on their arm like a trophy. Tigana is not
one of them.
As usual, he will be content to let the performances of his new investment
speak for his pre-science. Tigana has used Mohammed Fayed's fat cheque-book
with masterly results so far and who's to say Goma won't prove
the shrewdest buy yet of his £11m outlay?
This, after all, is a man who Bobby Robson definitely didn't want
to lose at Newcastle. "A very good player. Strong, very quick, very good
in the air and a good marker," said the old sage recently, noting that
even when he'd asked for a transfer, Goma had, admirably, never given
less than 100 per cent.
Tigana recognised the quality years ago. When coach at Monaco in 1997,
he tried to sign Goma from Auxerre but the club which had nurtured his
talent and had helped turn him into a central defender good enough for
some of Aime Jacquet's national squads would not release him until
his contract was up.
"It was frustrating," reflected Goma. "Tigana had been an idol. I'd
watch him on TV as a player and he was an example to everyone, showing
great commitment on the pitch with mental strength as well as football
qualities. Then as a coach, he did just as well. Of course, he was a star
in France."
No wonder then that he was thrilled to suddenly learn that the star had
never forgotten him. "Jean told me he'd been interested in me in
the past and wanted me in his squad now," revealed Goma. The approach
had come out the blue. He did not need asking twice.
He has no gripe with Newcastle where he'd had a tough time since
being part of Ruud Gullit's makeover in July 1999. The Dutchman's
swift exit, a series of injuries and "some personal problems which meant
I didn't find the right balance between my football and my private
life" prompts Goma to concede that, apart from these past three months,
he has never shown English football his best.
He wants Fulham to see it, having admired from afar Tigana's creation
of a team with a distinctly Gallic flavour and a "continental approach
very different to most English sides". Including Newcastle's. "Maybe
I wasn't on the same wavelength as Newcastle in the end," he pondered."
As he enthuses about the innovations in physical and technical preparations
at Fulham which his friend Louis Saha tells him about, he sounds, even
if unwittingly, a little dismissive of Newcastle's approach to training.
"Maybe we didn't work enough at Newcastle and this is what I missed,"
he said, adding the double-whammy that he wouldn't be surprised if
Fulham finished above his old mob next season.
It's not that Newcastle are stale but rather that, like many who've
watched Fulham's irresistible march this season, he is won over by
the sense of something really fresh. "I needed this challenge to give
something more to my career," he said. At 28, he still idly ponders if
he might force himself back into the French squad so he doesn't see
himself as a mere stop-gap replacement for the injured Chris Coleman,
who he already knows through his friendship with Gary Speed. "I hope Chris
and I could play alongside each other next season."
It was, he knew, going to be a different world now. "In the north-east,
I met nice people who were passionate about football and fans who I think
are the best in the country, yet I think it's going to be easier
for someone who lived in Paris to adapt in London where you don't
live 24 hours in football and can have more of a balance between football
and private life."
On the banks of the Tyne, it may not have worked out for him but Goma senses
that another adventure in black-and-white, this time on the Thames and orchestrated
by a silent French revolutionary, could have a happier ending.
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