bit in bold is about NUFC
There are so many foreign footballers who come to England, bank their cheques and then complain about how boozy everyone is, or how ugly the girls are, that it can be a shock to meet a player who loves the way of life so much that he intends to stay when he ends his career. What the French will make of Antoine Sibierski quoting Eric Cantona - "I have only one regret and it's that I was not born in England" - is another matter but, from an English perspective, it makes a nice change to hear someone who doesn't think that the weather is too cold or that the food is awful.
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"I will not be going back to France when I finish playing," Sibierski says. "It is a lovely country but the people there are arrogant and I don't like their attitude to life. I know a lot of English people will be surprised I am saying this because they go to France on holiday and think it is a lovely place. But I always say, 'You live there for one or two years rather than one or two weeks and then you will understand. All you see are the best bits, but wait for the people to show their real character.'
"The truth is that people in France resent success. If they see someone making money they cannot accept it. They are never happy to see someone doing well. So they will be nasty and say bad things behind your back because, basically, they are jealous.
"In England if you make money the people here generally accept that you have worked hard and deserve it. But in France I have seen what can happen if you are successful. When I lived there, my car windows were smashed. Another time someone ran a key along the side to scratch the paintwork. These are just two examples. I'm not saying it could never happen in England and that everyone here is perfect but I enjoy my life here more than in France. I like the people more. And my wife, Isabelle, feels exactly the same. The people here like her because of who she is, not because she's a footballer's wife."
There is something Cantona-esque about the way Siberski speaks his mind. True, the 33-year-old from Lille has not had the same impact on English football as Manchester United's rouge diable, but Wigan Athletic's nomadic striker is engaging company as he reflects on his 4½ years in the Premier League and the differences with Le Championnat. "It's very simple," he explains. "In England the football is exciting, in France it is boring. I watch it on television when I go home and I switch off."
He is talking in a closed-off room at Wigan's training ground, freshly showered after a final training session to prepare for today's FA Cup fourth-round tie with Chelsea. He had the choice of Wigan or Bolton Wanderers when he decided to leave Newcastle United last summer and applied an eccentric kind of logic. "When I looked at the two squads I could see Bolton were much stronger," he recalls. "They were in Europe as well, but I didn't want the easy choice. I wanted that challenge of playing for a club where it would not be easy."
It has certainly been a difficult season at the JJB stadium, although Sibierski is full of praise for the way Steve Bruce has rejuvenated the club since taking over from Chris Hutchings. "We had lost our confidence before he arrived. We had lost our discipline, on and off the pitch, but we're playing like a team now that should be in the top 10."
His return to the north-west has allowed him to return to his "favourite part of England", where his family are happily settled in Hale Barns, a Cheshire-set village inhabited by a Who's Who of Premier League footballers and Mancs-done-good. Yet there are glimpses of regret too - and the chain of events leading to his transfer explains why he refers to the former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd only as "Shepherd".
It did not end well at Newcastle," he explains. "I wanted to play there for the rest of my career and in February I was told that I would be offered a new contract for two years on the same wages. I was waiting and waiting and then, three games before the end of the season, Shepherd sacked Glenn Roeder. Suddenly my contract had been changed to one year, with 40% of the wages guaranteed and the other 60% if I played. I could understand if I had been injured or basically crap but I had played well and didn't deserve that. It was a complete lack of respect and I'm disappointed about it to this day because I still love that club and I class myself as a Newcastle fan.
"I'm very happy that Shepherd has gone, even if it came too late for me. I don't know him as a man so I can't judge him as a man, but as a chairman he was not a good chairman. The players did not like him. It's a shame for me because I still look for their results, and when my baby boy, Alessandro, is old enough to watch football I will take him to St James' Park. But the fact is I couldn't let them show me that disrespect."
Sibierski is well qualified to talk about the Kevin Keegan factor at Newcastle. "He was my first manager at Manchester City and I loved working with him. He is a legend at Newcastle and, now Shepherd has gone, if they buy the right players they can challenge Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in two years."
His face changes, however, when Stuart Pearce, Keegan's successor at City, is mentioned. "He liked me at first and gave me an extension to my contract. Then I had a really bad game against Middlesbrough at home. I was getting booed by the fans. We lost 1-0. And he was never the same with me again. I hadn't played in central midfield for two years but Kiki Musampa had turned up for training an hour late so Pearce put him on the bench. Something broke in our relationship that day."
It degenerated to the point that there was no handshake between the pair when Sibierski left for Newcastle in 2006. "We played a pre-season game in China and he used me in four different positions - right-wing, left-wing, central midfield and finally as a striker. He had no trust in me so I knew I had to leave."
The sight of Marlon King looking round Wigan's training ground yesterday suggests Sibierski may still have to win over Bruce. But he says he has enjoyed his first six months at Wigan and has a good understanding with the new manager. When he was dropped for the recent game at Derby he came off the bench to score the winner. "I have qualities," he says. "Please don't think I love myself. I'm realistic."
He has been flattered, too, that some of the younger players at Wigan have turned to him for advice. "I don't want to be a coach or a manager, but maybe I should stay in the game to manage a few players and help their careers." Whatever happens, he will be staying in England. "When I first heard that Cantona quote I didn't understand it. But I do now. I'm proud of where I'm from. Cantona is as well. But we have the same views about France."
