FORMER Newcastle star Didier Domi has opened up about his controversial exit from Newcastle in 2001.
The former left-back sat down with The Athletic to put the record straight on his story.
PA:Press AssociationDidier Domi was signed by Ruud Gullit[/caption]
Domi joined the Magpies from PSG in 1998 and made 70 appearances for the club.
He is perhaps best remembered for his goal against Sunderland and starting in Newcastle’s 1999 FA Cup Final.
But he left abruptly in 2001 and went AWOL after an interview was published in French media which alleged him to have criticised Sir Bobby Robson.
He was quoted as saying that Robson’s training methods were “like those of days gone by” before saying: “I’m not going to fulfil my true potential at Newcastle”.
The club hastily arranged a press conference to deny the quotes, with Robson reading out a statement from Domi that said: “The stories are a total distortion… a total fabrication of an interview I did.
“They are neither fair, nor accurate.”
While that looked to have sorted things, Domi’s next move only made things much worse.
Rather than return to Tyneside, the defender moved back to Paris to live with his mother before leaving for PSG in January.
Newcastle were furious at his one-man-strike with then-chairman Freddy Shepherd threatening to appeal to FIFA to withhold Domi’s playing registration.
PA:Press AssociationDomi was loved on Tyneside for his goal against Sunderland[/caption]
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According to Domi, he only went AWOL because he was so hurt by the situation.
He said: “I just expected to go back to Paris. I was really hurt by the situation. It was a misunderstanding but I was so hurt. And I was young and impatient.”
He continued: “What I had said was Bobby was like a grandpa to the players, who takes care of us, and has old but good methods. The way they turned it, it was as if I disrespected Bobby and said he was past it. But I didn’t.
“The fact Bobby didn’t believe me, it hurt me a lot. That’s why I left, because the trust wasn’t there. Bobby was like a father figure to me and he didn’t understand that I’d been played by the way the quotes were used.”
Domi said he loved life in Newcastle, where he shared a house with Nobby Solano and Nikos Dabizas.
On leaving the club because he wasn’t happy in Newcastle he said: “It’s a lie, total lies. I was really happy. Newcastle is such a special club. I saw Arsene Wenger in Qatar recently and we agreed that Newcastle fans are among the best in England. I was feeling so good there, why would I leave?
“This is the time people hear the truth. The thing is, Bobby will never know how much he meant to me, how much he means to me now. I always say he was one of my best coaches, but it was a big misunderstanding and I felt pain because he did not believe me.
“I had the best time at Newcastle and I should have stayed a long time. But I was hurt, I was young and I overreacted. I should have let time heal things. I do regret it — not going back to Paris, but leaving Newcastle, yes.”