“ERIC PICKED UP THE MICROPHOnE AnD
SAID ‘I DOn’T KnOW WHY, BUT I LOVE YOU’
TO 250,000 LEEDS FAnS. THAT WAS HIM”
14 March 2022 FourFourTwo
“We didn’t see him at the club for a while,”
Lemoult says. “He locked himself in his house,
tormented by that episode. I went there to
eat with him, and I also tried to make him
understand that he had to keep going. But
he wanted to end his career.”
ERIC CANTONA’S INDOOR LEAGUE
A few days before Christmas 1991, Cantona
announced his retirement from football. Only
Platini’s intervention changed his mind, after
the French boss insisted that a transfer to
England could be the solution. There, he was
virtually unknown and could start afresh,
without the past weighing him down.
So, in late January, Cantona travelled to
Yorkshire for a stint training with Sheffield
Wednesday on an artificial pitch because of
freezing weather conditions. His only public
appearance for the Owls came at the new
Sheffield Arena, in a scheduled six-a-side
Transatlantic Challenge clash against visiting
US team Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor
Soccer League.
Part of a Wednesday line-up that also
contained Graham Hyde, Chris Bart-Williams
and American international John Harkes,
grainy YouTube footage tells us that Cantona
scrabbled around on a tiny pitch, attempting
to force the ball into a miniature goal from
two yards. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Baltimore
and the Major Indoor Soccer League both
folded later that year.
Like Nimes, Wednesday had just been
promoted to the top tier. Unlike Nimes, they
doubted they had the budget to actually sign
Cantona. “A former agent of mine asked if I’d
do a favour to Platini, who was very keen toget Cantona back playing,” Owls boss Trevor
Francis later revealed to the Yorkshire Post.
“He wondered if I’d have a look at him in
training. I said, ‘I don’t really need another
centre-forward, but as a favour, I’ll do it’.
“I was surprised when he arrived – it was
built up as if I was looking to sign him, which
was never a consideration. He was here to do
a few days’ training, basically putting himself
in the shop window. There was this indoor
tournament – so I asked him if he wanted
to play, and he had a kickaround.
“After those two days it was put to me,
‘Are you going to sign him?’ I said, ‘Well, I
don’t think so, we’d like him to stay for a few
more days for us to have a little look at him’.
“I think his manager took that as an insult- I don’t know if it was a breakdown in
communication, but they regarded it as he
was Eric Cantona and he was not going to be
on trial. The whole thing got messy, and he
came to me and said, ‘I’ve got a chance to
go to Leeds’. He had my blessing.”
Spearheaded by 18 goals from David Hirst,
Wednesday went on to finish third, but then
Cantona ended up as a champion at Elland
Road, joining on loan from Nimes until the
middle of April for £100,000, with the option
to make the deal permanent for £1m.
“To begin with, I don’t think any of us really
knew who he was – these were the days
before the internet,” admits Jon Newsome,
a member of that title-winning squad. “He
was quietly spoken and didn’t speak much
Above “Ou est
‘Oldham’?”
Below Cantona
won the Charity
Shield and First
Division while
a Leeds playerTHE
STORY OF
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