Bernard Talks Of Career Breakdown


By Tyne-Talk
March 11 2011

Former Newcastle United winger Olivier Bernard has given an honest and frank interview to The Journal, in which he describes the hell of being forced out of the game through injury, the depression which occured as a result and the fact that Graeme Souness ruined his Newcastle career for him. He said;


“It was awful, I’d had so many highs at the start of my career and by 28 I was
finished. I was devastated.

It cost me a lot of money trying to get back into football, but it was a lost cause."

He continued;

“I came back to Newcastle, went to America for an operation, to Canada, to Birmingham, but I never played competitive football again.

I was very unlucky, it was very hard to accept. I had a taste of football at the highest level and it was taken away with the snap of a finger. It killed me for a good year.

I was depressed, so miserable. I’d done everything I could, but nothing worked. I made good money for a young man, but not enough to set me up for life.

I can’t even enjoy watching Newcastle play anymore, I hardly watch any football at all.

I do go sometimes, but I find it brings back too many memories, good and bad.

It reminds me of what I had and what I lost. I wish I could be out there again. I’m only 31, I should still be playing at a good level. Just looking at the Newcastle shirt makes me proud, it was a big part of my life, but it was taken away from me and I resent that.

I need an operation, I’m in constant pain, but I’m scared. There are no guarantees that I will be able to walk properly afterwards.

It will clear up the pain, but I might have a limp for the rest of my life, I might not have full mobility, I might not be able to run.”

Looking back at his time at the club he said;

"That team was incredible. It was the best time, it was so enjoyable to be part of it. I had a manager like Bobby and figureheads like Alan Shearer, Rob Lee, Gary Speed. I was a young man and I was so proud to play alongside them.

It was a young team – except for a few, we were all in our early twenties, we were all together, we went out together. It snowballed, we could feel the force inside us.

We went to Arsenal, won in December, and we believed we could win the title. We had no fear, we were young and we knew we were good, too fast for people. There hasn’t been a quicker team than that. We tore teams apart.

If we hadn’t suffered with injuries we would have won the title in 2002, I still believe that. Sir Alex Ferguson said as much. Next year we were in the Champions League, beating Juventus, fantastic memories.

We should have won something – the Uefa Cup in 2004, injuries killed it. We lost nine players for the second leg of the semi-final, it was too much to cope with.”

Talking about developments at the club at the time he added;

"I wanted to stay. I was enjoying my football, but it all changed very quickly. I don’t regret what happened. I left because I had to. The club stopped negotiating with me. Bobby got sacked, Graeme Souness came and he had completely different views. He killed the momentum and the team. He sat me down in our first meeting, said this is the contract, sign it now or you’re out.

He said ‘I’ve got another player to come anyway, I don’t think you’re that good’. That player was Celestine Babayaro. I was really upset. I said ‘you don’t even know me, you’ve hardly seen me play.’ He wanted me out and I went.

Everything was perfect for me, Souness ruined it. He deflated everything and everyone left. He didn’t like young players, he didn’t like difficult characters, he ruined the club.”



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Bernard Talks Of Career Breakdown
Discussion started by TyneTalk (IP Logged), 11/03/2011 10:16
TyneTalk
TyneTalk
11/03/2011 10:16
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tunyc
11/03/2011 17:20
Sad, really. It's easy to forget these guys are as human as you and me. One of his clubs should give him a job in football-some kind of ambassador role or a scout, or something in the front office. It would be a nice gesture to see a club take care of him.

Oh, and Souness is a @#$%&.

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davenufc
davenufc
11/03/2011 20:59
It is sad. I saw him a few months back at this training thing and I wondered what he was doing there now I suppose I know.

Good player in his day, a bit inconsistant but hell no-one's perfect.

And Souness was a disaster from the day he stepped in till the day he left.

Its quite funny watching him on telly now. He is so bitter concerning us and its pretty obvious we dont care about him

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MESSAGES->author
tunyc
11/03/2011 21:30
When I list our recent managers to myself, I often forget about him. Then the memory returns like a punch in the balls.

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DaraghL
12/03/2011 13:56
Was a huge fan gutted to see how he is at the moment.

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab165/DaraghL/Overthewall.jpg

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Ian Toward
Biffins Bridge
12/03/2011 14:12
Yeah, it is a shame but Im sure he will be financially secure.

When I read about or see him as a pundit I just want to hunt Soumess down. He is such a clueless, arogant cnut. Like King Kenny, couldnt handle a lot of players so just dismantled a top team. Ahhhh, I could f00king impload. Sell Hughes for 1.5 mill and buy Boumsong for 8.5. Un-@#$%&-believable.

Reading between the lines with Benard though, Im sure there were injury concerns prior to him being offered a contract. This would probably explain why he wasnt offered a huge long contract. Saying that though he couldnt have been much worse than Babayaro.

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MissC
12/03/2011 14:23
Quote:
Biffins Bridge
Yeah, it is a shame but Im sure he will be financially secure.

I would rather be fit and healthy than financially secure.

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piston26
Piston
14/03/2011 07:54
Souness - what that cnut knows about the game can be summarized on the edge of a paper napkin.
That decision changed the club forever. Shepherd is openly critical of MA's reign, in one interview he said the only hope we have of survival this season is to "pray".
Ironic really - he sucked the club dry and got out just before the @#$%& hit the fan. For me, he's the biggest cnut of them all...

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mentalman
mentalman
14/03/2011 09:21
the wife's aunt's neice from her husbands side was in a relationship with Bernard and has a kid to him, she used to say he was a right b*****d to her but he was suffering from severe depression when his career ended, its awful to hear what he has gone through since leaving the club!

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