goal against Rouen in mid-May before fizzing
in a 25-yard thunderbolt against Strasbourg
a fortnight later that confirmed Auxerre’s
qualification for the UEFA Cup. To gain more
experience he was then loaned to Martigues,
a few miles outside of Marseille.
“I’d learned that every Saturday night, he
got into his car after Auxerre matches and
went to see his girlfriend in Martigues – it was
a 600km journey, and I was afraid it would
end in a dramatic accident,” Roux explains.
“During 1985–86, Martigues were last in the
second division, five points behind their rivals,
but I thought a loan would be good for Eric,
and he did too. He helped them stay up.”
Cantona was also sent off twice – first for
a tiff with one fan who’d insulted him, then
receiving his marching orders again when
Martigues were already safe from relegation.
“Martigues played Cannes – a friend of
Eric’s played for Istres, and if Martigues won
then it helped Istres to stay up,” Roux says.
“He’d promised his friend that Martigues
would win, but quickly he realised that his
team-mates weren’t playing very hard and
got angry with them. One of the Cannes
players told him to calm down, and Eric shot
him an upper cut. He got a three-match
suspension, which he had to serve at Auxerre
because his loan was over. But I went to see
the president of the federation, told him what
had happened, and the suspension was
overturned by a presidential amnesty.”
Back at Auxerre, Cantona struck 17 goals
in 1986–87. “He’d become an adult,” says
Roux, who managed the club for an incredible
41 years. “We often talk about Maradona’s
goal against England at the 1986 World Cup,
but Eric did similar things with us. He’d start
from midfield, dribble around everyone and
score. He was already an exceptional player.”
In August 1987, Cantona made his debut
for France at senior level, scoring in a friendly
against West Germany after starting upfront
alongside Jean-Pierre Papin. “We lost 2-1 in
Berlin, but Eric scored just after half-time,”Papin tells FFT. “It was already Eric Cantona –
we knew what he could bring to a team, and
we quickly gave him the reins.”
Briefly drafted back to the U21s for a vital
European Championship semi-final against
England, he darted from the halfway line,
past Martin Keown & Co in the Three Lions
defence, to score in a 4-2 win in Besancon. At
Highbury in the second leg, he netted twice
more – defeating Paul Gascoigne in the duel
of the emerging mavericks, as Les Bleuets
went on to become continental champions.
At club level, though, Cantona became
embroiled in not one but two controversial
incidents – the first with Auxerre’s own
goalkeeper. “One morning, there was eight
centimetres of snow on the pitch, so I sent
the players to clear it using the advertising
boards,” Roux says. “Cantona was pushing
like crazy, but Bruno Martini was resting
a little. The tone rose, then Eric ended the
discussion with a nudge.” Or, to put it less
diplomatically, a headbutt.
In April 1988 in Nantes, an astonishingly
high two-footed tackle on defender Michel
Der Zakarian earned Cantona a red card and
two-month suspension. “Those two got into
a dispute – I later learned they were from the
same neighbourhood in Marseille,” Roux says.
“For Eric, it was OK to tease each other once
in a while, but we’re talking about a tackle
at hip height! Sometimes it was hard to hold
him back. After that tackle, he returned to the
changing room and the stadium caretaker
fled – he didn’t want to bump into Eric...”COVERED IN KETCHUP
Despite the controversies, Marseille shelled
out a French record fee of around £2m to sign
the 22 year old that summer. Everyone knew
the talent the volcanic maverick possessed.
“All the big French clubs were interested,
including Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and
Matra Racing,” says Roux. The latter are now
known as Racing Club and play in France’s
fifth tier but had just finished seventh in the
top flight back then and were spending big to
progress further. “Matra Racing invited him
for dinner, and Eric asked me how he should
dress. I told him not to put on his jeans with
the four stab wounds at the knee, but a suit.
He didn’t have one so went to buy one. Matra
Racing had a row of French-style guards to
welcome him – he was excited.
“Then one evening, I got a call from
Bernard Tapie at Marseille, asking if he“ERIC DIDn’T SHAVE
WELL. WE SEnT HIM
TO GET POTATOES SO
HE WOULDn’T RUn
InTO THE GEnERAL”
Above Guy Roux
was Cantona’s
first footballing
mentor, working
hard to rescue
his protégé from
a few sticky spotsERIC
CAn TOn AFourFourTwo.com The Story of Man Utd 63