Hughes up front in the Premier League, with
Brian McClair moved into midfield.
The Frenchman quickly scored four in four
games – equalising in a draw at Chelsea, then
bagging the leveller as they came from 3-0
down at Sheffield Wednesday. One goal and
two assists in a 5-0 thrashing of Coventry
soon followed, before a header as United
hammered Tottenham 4-1. That was the day
Cantona also delivered a sumptuous assist
for Irwin, extravagantly flicking the ball over
Spurs’ defence with the outside of a boot, ina way that only Cantona could. He later
claimed it was his favourite moment of
his whole United career. In little more than
a month, Eric had catapulted Ferguson’s side
to the top of the table.
“The way he played was different from
anyone else – he was a genius,” Pallister says.
“But it wasn’t just on the pitch that he settled
in seamlessly. He really loved being among
the lads.
“He was a different character – he’d talk
about poetry and paintings, and also refer to
a game as a blank canvas for him to perform
a work of art. He was a bit different from the
typical raggy-arsed footballer from a working
class background! But the beauty of Eric was
that he embraced all of our foibles, too.
“It’s well known that the United lads had
a bit of a drinking club going. We called them
team meetings, and they often lasted until
kicking-out time. A lot of foreign lads came to“WE WERE ALL A BIT SCEPTICAL
BECAUSE OF HIS REPUTATIOn,
BUT HE JUST HAD THIS AURA”
Manchester United Football Club, you’re
stopping a player going to Man United?’”
Cantona was a different type of player,
arrived at almost by accident, but Leeds let
him leave for just £1.2m. Or so Whites fans
thought, anyway: Edwards later revealed on
BBC documentary Fever Pitch that the fee
was in fact £1m but publicly declared higher
to avoid Fotherby getting too much stick.
“When he joined us, the club was a bit like
a Formula 1 car – it just needed a Formula 1
driver to steer it, and Eric was that man,” Gary
Pallister tells FFT. “He was the final piece of
the jigsaw, a perfect fit. The day he walked
into the United changing room is still fresh
in my memory.
“We were all a bit sceptical because of his
reputation, wondering what kind of individual
was joining us, but the moment he arrived, he
had that aura – and it transmitted onto the
pitch straight away.
“No one I can think of ever hit the ground
running like Eric did. He had this real unique
quality and understanding of the game, and
gave us the imagination we’d perhaps lacked.
From day one, he was outstanding.”
“HE WANTED TO KILL THAT F**KER”
After making his first Manchester United
appearance against Benfica in Lisbon, in
a December friendly to mark Eusebio’s 50th
birthday, Cantona soon partnered Mark
Clockwise from
above Cantona
ended 26 years
of hurt; a rare
fashion faux
pas; “Eric who?”;
getting into hot
water in TurkeyTHE
STORY OF
MAn UTD68 The Story of Man Utd FourFourTwo.com