Hounded
out of France as a troublemaker, distrusted by his manager at Leeds,
the 26-year-old Cantona signed for Manchester United for £1.2m – and
became a legend
On a murky Mancunian afternoon, just under a month out from
Christmas 1992, a mustachioed Manchester United fan stands in front of a
Megastore Santa and reacts to the news that his club, lying eighth in
the Premier League and out of both the cups, have just signed a French
forward from Leeds. “Ooh aah Cantona?” he mutters, shaking his head.
“They won’t sing it here.”
Yeah right, absolutely no chance. The bloke’s a total nutter
- Lee Sharpe
While others might have been a little more optimistic about
the new arrival, the talking head’s opinion was by no means
unreflective. Gary Pallister was told the news by a journalist, who
first made him guess who his boss had just splashed out for (“I was
stunned”).
Lee Sharpe didn’t believe it either. “Yeah right,
absolutely no chance,” was his first reaction. “The bloke’s a total
nutter.” And across the nation, bemused supporters looked upon the
Teletext page 302 headline: “OOH AAH, I’VE GOT CANTONA” with a mixture
of scepticism, glee and confusion.
Cantona’s talent, of course, was not in doubt. This was a
France international of prodigious ability, who had played a delicious
cameo in Leeds’ burglary of the title from United
the season before. But his reputation as a troublemaker was ominous.
Howard Wilkinson didn’t like the Frenchman’s attitude and thought he was
idle, despite the goals he was banging in.
Rewind further, and the story of a player unable to settle pretty much anywhere unfolded.
On yer bike: Cantona bounced around France (but looked ace doing so)
Sure, he’d started well at Auxerre under Guy Roux, but
Cantona had laboured at hometown club Marseille, ending up on loan to
Bordeaux and Montpellier. There were reckless tackles. Shirts and fists
were thrown. He’d insulted national coach Henri Michel on live TV, and
thrown boots into the face of Montpellier team-mate Jean Claude Lemoult.
At Nimes, though, he’d got into real trouble. Banned for a
month after tossing a ball at a referee, he later walked up to each
member of his disciplinary committee and called them an idiot. His
suspension was doubled. Just 25, he decided to retire.
Houllier steps in
Then, France assistant manager Gerard Houllier – and
Cantona’s psychoanalyst – had persuaded him to try a fresh start in
England. So far, it had worked out perfectly. But as Bryan Robson
recalls from the time, United was a different proposition. “The players
weren’t convinced that it was a good signing. Eric had a reputation for
flitting from club to club.”
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves: Eric Cantona’s
1992/93 had started at Leeds United – and started extremely well. He was
playing for the champions, and was already idolised on the Elland Road
terraces. Despite having only played a bit-part role in their dramatic
title surge, the early signs were that he could become a club great.
He’d hit an incisive hat-trick in the Charity Shield – the
4-3 against Liverpool – and went on to notch 11 times in his first 20
games (including another treble vs Spurs and two in the Champions
League).
Cantona celebrates his 1992 Charity Shield treble with Leeds team-mates Gary Speed and Rod Wallace
The only problem was that Wilkinson didn’t fancy him. “He’s
got exceptional potential, but he’s got to keep hard at it,” he
muttered about his match-winner after the dazzling Charity Shield
display. Eric lacked the consistency he’d later show in Manchester,
perhaps because he didn’t sit comfortably inside Sergeant Wilko’s strict
4-4-2.
I had a bad relationship with Wilkinson. We didn’t have the same views on football
- Eric Cantona
His languid style rubbed the gaffer up the wrong way. “I had a bad relationship with Wilkinson,” Cantona would later tell FourFourTwo. “We didn’t have the same views on football.” Likewise, Cantona baulked at the endless fitness drills in training.
But there was no doubt that his four-month spell at the
beginning of this term displayed an individual ready to soar. In a
parallel universe, with a more accommodating boss, Cantona might have
helped to kickstart an entirely different dynasty on the other side of
the Pennines.
Rumours, meanwhile, swirled about what Cantona was up to
off the pitch. True or not, he was unsettled, and the now-famous phone
call between United chairman Martin Edwards and his Leeds counterpart
Bill Fotherby would seal his switch. The Yorkshireman wanted to sign
Denis Irwin: there was no deal to be had, but Ferguson signalled to his
boss that he’d be interested in Eric.
To their surprise, Fotherby said it was a possibility.
After some back and forth, a fee between £1m and £1.2m was settled upon.
When Ferguson told his assistant, Brian Kidd, the Mancunian enquired
whether Cantona had lost a leg.
The immediacy and depth of Eric’s impact shouldn't be
overstated – it’s worth remembering the state United were in. Yes, they
were the best-supported club in England, but given this fact, United had
horribly underachieved overall.
Capitulation to Leeds had sent the fans into something resembling mourning
Pre-Eric, they’d won just seven titles in 114 years. It
wasn’t good enough for a club of their size and buying power. And the
capitulation to Leeds had sent the fans into something resembling
mourning. They’d blown the title from a strong position, and some
loyalists felt that the club was somehow cursed, destined to never break
the title hoodoo that now extended into a 26th season.
What Cantona brought, above all else, was confidence. “He
swaggered in,” remembers Ferguson. “He stuck his chest out, raised his
head and surveyed everything as though he were asking: ‘I’m Cantona. How
big are you?”
Fergie couldn't quite believe he was able to nab him from Leeds
United had a world-class goalkeeper in Peter Schmeichel,
the league’s meanest defence – marshalled by the sturdy Steve Bruce and
Gary Pallister – and plenty of fight and bite in midfield. But they
lacked someone to help get them over the line when it really counted;
someone lacking the fear that had gripped the club as they’d let the
league slip. Someone with infallible belief and an X-Factor.
It was like he said ‘I’m Eric, and I’m here to win the title for you'
- Paul Ince
Cantona filled the void. “He just had that aura and
presence,” Paul Ince recalls. “He took responsibility away from us. It
was like he said: ‘I’m Eric, and I’m here to win the title for you.’”
On the training ground, youngsters like Ryan Giggs and Gary
Neville idolised him. The well-worn cliche of the pro who stays late
after training to practice was true in Cantona’s case, and it inspired
others to reach for his level of excellence. “He would come in at
half past nine in the morning, an hour before us lot, do his own warm-up
and practise his skills and his touches,” says Ince.
The ball-hurling madman of myth was nowhere to be seen,
either. “He was nothing like the guy we feared he’d be,” said Mark
Hughes. “He was polite and considered, and drove a modest car and lived
in a modest house,” said Gary Neville. He raised standards just by being Cantona.
Yes, I can even pull off this tracksuit
“Even the slightest mishit, or a lost tackle, would
earn you a glare,” adds Neville. “You'd feel two inches tall. A mistake
was a crime in that team.”
United’s form had an immediately uptick. Eric helped grab
crucial draws at Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday, then scored as the
Reds dismantled Coventry City and Spurs. A month after his arrival,
United were top of the league. Cantona brimmed with a regal confidence
and imagination on the ball, and saw the game like nobody else.
Visionary passes would release the likes of Giggs, Irwin
and Andrei Kanchelskis on the flanks. He supplied Hughes with glorious
chances (the Welshman scored 15 that year). And when the team struggled
and needed something special he was there to grab games by the scruff of
the neck: he scored a late winner against Sheffield United, salvaged a
desperate draw in the March derby against Manchester City, and netted
nerve-calming third goals in the run-in wins over Norwich City and
Chelsea.
Cantona celebrates an equaliser against Manchester City
Just as a serenity had descended over Leeds the year before
as United had become flustered, so Cantona’s soothing presence saw
United ultimately cruise to the Premier League. They won their last
seven games to finish 10 points clear of second-placed Aston Villa.
Even a disciplinarian like Ferguson couldn’t hide his
adoration. He accepted Eric’s occasional maverick tendencies, and let
him abide by a different set of rules, because he knew it would work.
“We all went to a film premiere and were told to wear black ties,”
remembers Andy Cole. “Eric turned up in a cream lemon suit and Nike
trainers. The manager told him he looked fantastic.”
Luckily, the rest of the squad didn’t resent him. Even
Brian McClair, who’d dropped into midfield to make way for Cantona,
accepted the situation and knuckled down. The pair combined excellently.
Cantona had not divided the squad: in fact, he’d fostered a new
togetherness. The club were truly United at last.
The rest, we all know. 1992/93 wasn’t just Year Zero for
Eric Cantona, it was Year Zero for England’s biggest club. They would
win four titles over the next five seasons; Ferguson would go on to
become to become the most successful British manager of them all. And
it’s not pushing it to pinpoint it as Year Zero for the box-fresh
Premier League, either. “In my eyes, he was responsible for the league
developing as quickly as it did,” reckons Schmeichel.
With his popped collar, opaque quotes and none-more-Gallic movie star
mannerisms, Cantona was box office before he was actually box office.
He was the hero and villain English football needed to grow into the
behemoth it is today. Best of all, the nomad had finally settled.
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