game of the season at Aston Villa, prompting
Alan Hansen’s famous declaration, “You can’t
win anything with kids.” The Reds had also
gone out of the UEFA Cup to Rotor Volgograd.
Manchester United trailed Newcastle by 12
points at one stage, but Cantona’s return had
provided leadership for the emerging Class of
’92, before he struck the winner at St James’
Park in early March 1996. Cantona scored in
six consecutive matches – levelling in Fergie
Time at QPR, then netting winners against
Arsenal, Spurs and Coventry, plus a goal and
two assists in a 3-2 triumph at Manchester
City. In those six games alone, his individual
contribution had earned United 12 points –
enough to overhaul the Magpies at the top.
Once more, he helped United to the
double, firing in from the edge of the box in
the FA Cup final against Liverpool to clinch a
1-0 win then lifting the trophy as captain in
place of the injured Bruce. Before the
presentation, though, he’d tried to persuade
the centre-back to do the honours.
“A lot of words have been written to try
to describe Eric over the years, and I’ll give
you two more – kind and considerate,” says
Bruce. “For me, that gesture at the cup final
summed him up, and showed what a man
he was. He’d just scored a late winner, but he
approached me and said, ‘Come on, you’ve
got to lift the cup’. I said, ‘Listen Eric, if anyone
deserves to do that, then it’s you. I’ve done
it before – it’s your turn now. Thanks for the
offer, but this is your moment’.”
Savaged by the press 16 months earlier,
Cantona was named as the Football Writers’
Association’s Footballer of the Year and then
appointed as captain on a permanent basis
when Bruce departed for Birmingham.
On a visit to England, Roux saw how much
Cantona was adored. “He was the King of
Manchester,” the 83 year old smiles. “I met
him to make a documentary – when he
stepped on to the pavement, there were 200
people around him. It was amazing to see.”
United were playing catch-up again in
1996–97 – nine points behind Liverpool just
before Christmas, when Cantona scored
a sublime hang-it-in-the-Louvre goal in a 5-0
home win over Sunderland. After dribbling
from the halfway line, he exchanged passes
with McClair before brilliantly chipping keeper
Lionel Perez, then stood arms outstretched,
accepting the adulation as if to ask, ‘Are you
not entertained?’ Maximus Decimus Meridius
and Gladiator were still four years away, but
Leeds fan Russell Crowe was taking notes.
“I can’t think of another player who played
with Cantona’s swagger,” says Pallister. “The
way he played with his collar up, and that
celebration against Sunderland. Imagine
anyone else doing that – we’d never have got
away with it. We’d have had the piss ripped
out of us! But he carried it off superbly.”
Cantona later said that the celebration
was aimed at Perez, a former Nimes team-
mate, who’d feared people might disapprove
if he was too friendly with the United star
before kick-off. “Before the game, I went over
to say hello,” Cantona said. “He didn’t want to
shake my hand, so maybe that’s why I scored
that goal. That’s the biggest humiliation for
a goalkeeper, and that kind of celebration,
too. I just stand there. Look at me.”
United fought back to win the league once
more – Cantona’s sixth title in seven seasons.
It might have been seven in seven were it not
for the kung-fu kick. But a day after they were
beaten by Borussia Dortmund in the 1996-97
Champions League semi-finals, the King told
Ferguson he would be retiring at the end of
the season, aged only 30.
“I admire a player that can play at the
same club for 20 years like Ryan Giggs, Paolo
Maldini or Xavi,” he later said. “I’m not that
type of person. I get bored very quickly. I was
very passionate about the game, and always
said that when I lost that passion, I would
retire. It just went like a light switch.”
Cantona’s retirement plan stayed a secret
until the campaign was over. After providing
an assist for Jordi Cruyff in a home win over
West Ham, on the day United lifted another
Premier League trophy, his last fixture as
a professional came in a post-season benefit
match for David Busst – Cantona scored twice
against Coventry at Highfield Road on a nightthat also featured cameos from Gazza and,
er, Richard Keys.
Then came the announcement of his exit.
“Retiring at 30? Ridiculous!” says Bruce. “But
that’s Eric – he did things his way. Could we
have won the trophies that we did without
him? No, absolutely not. He was the catalyst,
exactly what we needed. He was a great,
great player. A born winner. In a way, we’d
all like to be Eric Cantona.”
Cantona packed more into his career than
most other players combined. Before him,
United hadn’t won the league in 26 years.
With him, they won it four times in five
seasons, laying the foundation for nine more
triumphs to knock Liverpool off their perch.
Eric Cantona was the man who started it
all. Arguably, he’s the most significant player
in almost 30 years of Premier League history.
Turns out Graeme Souness should probably
have signed him after all.MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM
- Why Eric Cantona meant so much to
Manchester United fans (by Andy Mitten) - Eric Cantona answers your questions:
“I didn’t hit the Palace fan strong enough.
I should have punched him harder”
(by Andy Mitten) - Year Zero: The making of Eric Cantona,
1992-93 (by Nick Moore)
“WE COULDn’T HAVE WOn THOSE
TROPHIES WITHOUT HIM. WE’D
ALL LIKE TO BE ERIC CAnTOnA”
Clockwise from
top Celebrating
that beautiful
Sunderland chip;
“Who hurtled
around Paris on
a Harley?”; Eric
broke Geordie
hearts in 1996THE
STORY OF
MAn UTD72 The Story of Man Utd FourFourTwo.com