Listen to the full interview above via the podcast player
Back in the 1990s foreign superstars in the Premier League were more of a treat than they are today.
With most Premier League clubs staffed by players from across the globe nowadays, their flair can almost be taken for granted.
Fortunately, former Tottenham and Newcastle winger David Ginola graced the Premier League at a time when there was greater appreciation for the skills honed on the continent.
However, despite his obvious talent and winning the Football Writers Player of the Year and PFA Player of the Year in a glorious 1998/99 season for Tottenham, one aspect of his career is tinged with real regret.
The BT Sports pundit was in Dublin today for the launch of Setanta’s Premier League coverage and chatted to Joe about his unfulfilled France career.
No matter how much @MolloyJoe quiffs his hair, he'll never get it higher than this guy. David Ginola on tonights show pic.twitter.com/sS9rSMNdMQ
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) August 6, 2014
Despite being one of the most gifted French footballers of his generation, Ginola never played in a World Cup.
In 1993 with Les Bleus needing a draw to seal qualification for USA '94, they lost to Bulgaria with Ginola made the scapegoat after giving the ball away in the dying seconds as the Bulgarians scored a last minute winner.
The resulting vilification from the press and fans saw him left in the cold at international level and meant he missed France's World Cup win on home soil in 1998.
Ginola reminisced about that more painful portion of his career at a point when he was shining at club level for PSG.
"It's a very sad souvenir for me," said Ginola, who clearly still finds it difficult to talk about that dark chapter.
"It had an impact on my future as a player for my country. That's why I didn't play in the World Cup in France in 1998. But apart from that, what can I say? What's done is done."
On the night of the World Cup final in Paris, the winger was doing punditry with the BBC at the Stade de France despite being at the peak of his powers and remembers the conflicting emotions he had to endure watching a moment he could - and should - have been part of.
"It was like stealing a dream from a kid. They stole my dream. Simple as that," he said, adding that he was unsure whether he wanted to cover the World Cup at the time and admitted that it is something he still thinks about every day.
David Ginola at Newcastle ©Tom Honan/INPHO
But of course, fans and the media were not the only ones who openly blamed Ginola. Famously, his then-France manager and former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier publicly blamed him for France's elimination ahead of the 1994 tournament.
"It's just the fact that when you have a manager who doesn't take his responsibility in a defeat and put all the blame on you, this is something to avoid," he told Joe, explaining how the public criticism and scrutiny affected his career.
Ginola also spoke about growing up in sunny St Tropez and the driven child that he was, which involved many other sports outside football.
