Eric Cantona: The Moments That Made Them
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What made Eric Cantona one of football's greatest enigmas?
Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and me, Gary Lineker. In our latest episode of Premier League Greats, the moments that made them, we're focusing on, well, one of the most iconic footballers of our lifetime. As much off the pitch as possibly on the pitch. Also a friend of the podcast. Won the title with two different clubs. Correct. Different titles. Yeah. Yes. A certain King Eric. Eric Cantona, the one and only. We spoke to him, didn't we, during the Euros in Berlin. He was a guest on our podcast and it was one of the episodes I joined. And he was everything, everything we expected he would be.
Didn't he call me Michael?
Michel or Michael? Something like that, wasn't it?
Yeah, I didn't have a clue who I was.
Yeah.
Although you would have been a fan of his growing up because you were Leeds. Obviously, Arsenal was your side, but you also liked Leeds.
What year were you born? 88. So you were three or four when Leeds won the league.
The city was bouncing. It was around the time when I was, yeah, my younger days. Too young. You wouldn't have remembered him at that point.
So Leeds won the last... Leeds won the last thing before it turned to the Premier League.
91-92.
91-92. And that was also the last English manager to win the top flight title in Wilkinson. Yes, it was. It's mad that, isn't it?
Yeah.
There's never been an English coach manager that's won... the Premier League. I mean, that's just... Yeah, but that's only because we employ foreign managers, though.
Yeah, but why? Because we haven't... Because it's sexy. It's sexy, isn't it? You think that's genuinely the case, though? It's like, you know, you had Jermaine Jettis on this and you wanted big meeks. You wanted something a bit more sexy, didn't you? You know what I mean? Christ, you're on fire.
Playing well, aren't you? I'm fine.
And Cantona once famously said, I play with passion and fire. I have to accept that sometimes this fire does harm. He was, let's say, not necessarily a controversial figure, but he was different.
How did Eric Cantona's signing impact Manchester United's success?
Eric was different, wasn't he? In a good way. I think mostly in a good way. I think so.
Well, I think looking back at his career, both on and off the pitch, he was different. I mean, if you speak to any of the Man U boys, they will tell you how influential he was and how different he was. And it must be one of the bargains of all time when about 1.2 million, something like that, wasn't it? When Sir Alex signed him from Leeds.
And that caused issues, didn't it?
Can't go from Leeds to Manchester.
Especially a Leeds team that had won the title, then you go Leeds to Manchester United. And they were, and still are probably huge rivals, but particularly back...
then you can't go from leeds to manly rio did that as well though didn't he rio fernand yeah yeah judas judas yeah the old collar up wasn't it it was like i mean if you're gonna play with your collar up then you have to you have to be good you have to be good yeah he was good he was he was he was seriously good yeah he was uh he was tough as well wasn't he had the The arrogance had the... I played against it all. Did you?
Yeah, I played in the last season before it turned to the Premier League, didn't I? I was at Tottenham. Yeah. Yes, when they won the league, so... Oh, was it? Yeah, yeah. Where did you finish that year? We weren't very good. We've got financial problems and we sold one or two players. We couldn't get any new players in. We were all right. We won the Cup the previous season and we had a decent enough run in the Cup Winners' Cup without going two for that quarter-finals or something.
What was he like when he was on the pitch though? Did he just have the aura?
Yeah. He was one of those players that had something about him. Even if it was...
self-induced in a way it was his own I mean his own aura he could back it up he could back it up with his ability I mean he obviously he was one of those players I think where it was like give me the ball yeah give me the ball as in to say I'll do something with it and I'll look after the rest of the teammates and
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What made Eric Cantona one of football's greatest enigmas?
0:09–2:29
2
How did Eric Cantona's signing impact Manchester United's success?
2:29–8:21
3
What were the controversies surrounding Eric Cantona's career?
8:21–13:44
4
What was Eric Cantona's playing style and influence on the pitch?
13:44–16:44
5
How did Sir Alex Ferguson manage Eric Cantona differently?
16:44–24:21