“Lies.” Then “total lies”. And “people will say what they want to say but it’s just not true”.
Throughout a 50-minute telephone chat, Didier Domi is polite, affable and self-deprecating. Yet, when two “rumours” about his two years at Newcastle United are raised, his responses are unequivocal.
His Tyneside legacy is certainly curious.
Team-mates remember the Frenchman as a talented attacking left-back — they do not lump him in with expensive turn-of-the-century flops Marcelino and Silvio Maric — but he never quite fulfilled his potential at St James’ Park, despite scoring against Sunderland and starting in the 1999 FA Cup final.
Scoring against Sunderland was a high point of Domi’s time at Newcastle (Steve Morton/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Many supporters, however, recall a player who supposedly did not settle. It was claimed he never really wanted to be at Newcastle and left in acrimonious circumstances.
But Domi has his own perspective.
“None of it is true,” Domi says. “I loved Newcastle, the Toon Army, the city and Bobby Robson. Because I left so quickly, nobody heard my story, but it didn’t happen like people said. It was all a big misunderstanding — that is probably the best word.”
In December 2000, Domi gave an interview in French, extracts of which were translated on a football website. It contained apparent criticism of Robson’s training sessions as being “like those in days gone by” and Domi supposedly stressing that “I’m not going to fulfil my true potential at Newcastle”.
A hastily arranged press conference was held, where Robson read out a prepared statement from Domi that rejected the claims. “The stories are a total distortion… a total fabrication of an interview I did,” it read. “They are neither fair, nor accurate.”
Yet, rather than resolve the situation, Domi went AWOL in Newcastle’s eyes, returning to Paris to live with his mother, and was fined. A transfer back to Paris Saint-Germain soon followed, but only after Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, threatened to appeal to FIFA to withhold Domi’s registration.
“I didn’t even know that was happening with the chairman, you have just told me that now,” Domi says. “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.”
But why was he hurt? Did he actually criticise Robson and the club?
“I saw people said I left like that, but it’s not true,” says Domi. “I came in for training and I had done a very open and nice interview. But the headline had me claiming Bobby was outdated and then a website twisted it.
“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.”
The manner of his mid-season departure — the accusation of him returning to France without permission — is not something Domi directly addresses. Yet he rebuts claims he did not enjoy life in Newcastle, citing his family’s “love” for the area, and the Jesmond “compound” they shared with Nobby Solano and Nikos Dabizas.
“It’s a lie, total lies,” Domi says. “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.”
To demonstrate what he insists is his enduring affection for Newcastle, Domi stresses that his 21-year-old son, Lukman, “follows” their results. In fact, Lukman experienced the famous St James’ atmosphere for the first time last month — for the historic 4-1 Champions League victory over PSG.
“He wanted to witness the place, because I always go on about it,” Domi says. “That was the best day for him to see it — the place was on fire, like a volcano!
“I told him it would be special. But wow, even I did not expect that. The tactics of Eddie Howe, the atmosphere, the pressing and the intensity; Newcastle had it all. They used the emotion really well.”
Newcastle’s emotional victory over PSG in the teams’ first meeting this season was fuelled by a raucous atmosphere (Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Domi is adamant, however, that PSG “weren’t complacent” on the night. “I spoke to people inside the club and they never expected the emotion, they could not deal with it,” he says, ahead of tonight’s return fixture. “They will not make the same mistake in Paris.”
Though Domi has an emotional connection to Newcastle and PSG, and observes both sides as a pundit for beIN Sports, he also works for the Ligue 1 champions. A Doha resident, having moved there in 2011, he is the technical advisor for PSG’s academies in Qatar. He has witnessed the rapid growth of PSG to ‘superclub’ status following Qatari investment.
“What they have done is unbelievable,” he says. “From David Beckham to Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Thiago Silva, and Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, they have had the best players. But the stadium has been improved, the training ground is one of the best in the world. We have been spoiled as fans.
“What I like this season is they are more of a ‘team’. Under (head coach) Luis Enrique, things are different. They are now more together.”
During Mike Ashley’s time as owner, Domi “shared, from afar, Newcastle fans’ pain” over the club’s unambitious strategy. “It is not who Newcastle are or should be,” he says. “The takeover is what the club needed and look at them now.”
What has impressed Domi most is the clear strategy Newcastle have employed.
“The choices they have made with players, signing Sven Botman and Bruno Guimaraes, players I knew well in France, was smart,” says Domi. “I didn’t want them to sign players for money who would not want to be there. They needed to sign hungry, young players. They have not just done as PSG did. I see what they have done from top to bottom and I think, ‘Newcastle are in really good hands’.”
Born in Sarcelles, a northern suburb of Paris, representing PSG was always a “dream” for Domi.
“I felt privileged when I broke through in 1996,” he says. “Players with talent like Thierry Henry will always make it. But for me, it was a surprise. It was because of hard work.”
David Ginola, George Weah and Leonardo were at PSG when he first trained with the senior squad. Domi was part of the side that lost the old UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final to Barcelona in 1997 before winning a Coupe de France and a Coupe de la Ligue (the French League Cup) the following year. However, despite their stars, PSG were not the perennial Ligue 1 champions back then that they are now.
“We were knocking on the door — always in Europe, if not the Champions League,” Domi says. “We still had big expectations on us and we did win things, but we were just missing a little something.”
Domi was not an automatic starter for his hometown club and, in December 1998, Newcastle had a £4million ($5m at today’s rates) bid accepted. Ruud Gullit, their manager at the time, had promised a “sexy football” revolution and Domi grabbed the chance.
Within six months, Domi was starting at Wembley in the 1999 FA Cup final, a 2-0 loss to Manchester United, who went on to complete the treble four days later.
“The fans travelled en masse, black and white stripes everywhere,” Domi says. “The atmosphere sticks in my memory, more than the game — they were just better than us. But I joined a Newcastle who believed we could win trophies, because we had players like Gary Speed, Alan Shearer, Nobby Solano. With those players, you don’t fear playing anyone. Maybe we should have won something.”
Wembley was the highlight of Gullit’s short tenure, with the Dutchman resigning in August 1999 after essentially starting a civil war with senior players, including Shearer.
“I had a good relationship with him, but I had a good relationship with Alan as well,” Domi says. “They were difficult moments, it was a hard time. It was sad, because you want trust, but Alan was on the front line with Ruud and they did not get along. We were all caught in the middle.”
Robson’s arrival swept away the negativity and brought unity — as well as a transformation in results.
“Bobby was so special. From the first day, you could feel his experience; he gave everyone clear roles and confidence,” says Domi. “He was a great man, with great relationships with his players, who could laugh but also be serious and work hard. We beat Sheffield Wednesday 8-0 and immediately everything just felt different.”
Under Robson, Domi was a regular, but was not always first choice. He was played as a left-winger sometimes, as he did at the Stadium of Light in February 2000, when he scored in the Wear-Tyne derby.
“I played in derbies for Olympiacos, but Newcastle vs Sunderland was so special,” says Domi. “I didn’t score many goals, so I certainly remember it! The home fans were not happy, but I remember the noise in the away end. Such a proud moment.”
There were 55 league appearances across two years for Domi, whose offensive approach from left-back suited English football. But he struggled to establish himself under Robson; then came that disputed interview and his controversial exit.
A short return to the Premier League followed with a loan to Leeds United in 2004, but they were “in real trouble” and ended up going down. “I enjoyed Leeds and it was such a shame for the fans they got relegated, for players like Alan Smith and Paul Robinson,” Domi says. “For a club like Leeds, like Newcastle, that should not happen. It was one of the hardest times as a player because there was so much happening at the club and it affected everyone.”
A Copa del Rey final win with Espanyol and three Greek titles with Olympiacos ensured a successful denouement to Domi’s European career, before he ended his playing days at New England Revolution in the United States in 2011.
“Technically, MLS was not the best league, because the gap between the marquee players and those out of the universities was so big,” Domi says. “But there was a lot of effort and a great feeling around it. MLS has progressed so much since then, with a far better level now. I loved my time in Boston, but I was injured a lot, so I decided to retire afterwards.”
Group F of the Champions League is finely balanced, with three points separating Borussia Dortmund in first and Newcastle in fourth. For Newcastle, this trip to the Parc des Princes is a must-not-lose match, but Domi favours PSG.
“If it was a full Newcastle, it would be close,” says Domi. “The problem is injuries for Newcastle, not their level. They can compete with anyone. It’s just injuries that make me fear for them.”
Regardless, even if Newcastle are eliminated from Europe’s elite competition, Domi does not foresee another two-decade absence from that level for his former club. Rather, he believes they can join PSG among the continent’s proven elite.
“They have the foundation and the vision,” says Domi.
“What they need next are more world-class players — that is how you compete in the Champions League. But they cannot make the same mistakes PSG made (in the transfer market). It is a difficult balance. I really want Newcastle to do well — I love the club, no matter what people say about me.”
(Top photo: Owen Humphreys – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
