Eric Cantona: The Enigma that inspired.

“My best moment? I have a lot of good moments but the one I prefer is when I kicked the hooligan.”

What was Eric Cantona?

long sleeves. Shirt tucked. Collar up. Chest out. An air of fear and unpredictability would sweep the pitch, They were all in the presence of greatness. Unparalleled, chaotic, game-changing greatness. 6’2, 190 pounds, Eric Cantona imposed himself on The English game, and on every defence he played against, scoring 70 goals, assisting 56 times, and winning 2 FA cups and 5 league titles, while that is an immaculate set of accolades, it pales in comparison to the Frenchman’s true legacy and Impact. Victor. Character. Catalyst for change. Anointed “King Eric” by the Manchester United faithful, Cantona ushered in a new age and changed the culture. Let’s take a look at the king’s eventful reign.

Prince Eric.

The year was 1988, and French giant Olympique Marseille had splashed 2.7 million euros to bring a relatively unproven 22-year-old into their squad. A few months prior Cantona had made his debut with Les Bleus, playing for the French U-21 team, and a few months later with the first team. Young Eric would have been on top of the world and felt he could do no wrong, but unfortunately, things would start to go awry.

“A bag of sh*t” is what the Frenchman called the then France Manager, Henri Michel. This was in response to the manager not selecting Cantona for an important world cup qualifier. Cantona would face repercussions for his words, in the form of a 1-year ban from playing for the national team. Prior to this Cantona had amassed quite the rap sheet in France, He had punched teammates, kicked the ball into the crowd, and ripped and thrown his shirt when substituted. This was the football world’s first real taste of the temperamental nature of Cantona, but this was just the entrée.

All of this resulted in him moving away from Marseille to Bordeaux on loan, and a season-long loan at Montpellier, before finally going back to his parent club, where he would win his second league title in 3 years with the French club, this time playing more a role in the success with his 10 goal contributions. Despite all his disciplinary shortcomings, there was little to no doubt in France that Cantona was one of the best the country had to offer. He was just as talented as he was undisciplined and he garnered a reputation of being problematic, but even his biggest critics could not deny his greatness when he laced his Tiempos.

In 1991 Cantona “retired” from football after receiving a 1-month ban for kicking the ball at a referee, during his disciplinary hearing he walked up to each member of the panel and called them an “Idiot” before declaring his intention to retire and pay off his contract with current club Nimes, even if it would put him in severe debt. Eventually, he would go back on this decision to quit the game, looking for a fresh start and to put his successful, yet tumultuous time in French football behind him.

Across the Channel, The English football league was set to be revolutionised and a new league was born, The Premier League. The season before the reinvention, Leeds united signed a little-known Frenchman named Eric Cantona for 1.35 million pounds. As soon as he arrived, the English public didn’t take much notice of him, perhaps writing him off, as a foreign player, who “couldn’t cut it in the English game” “Eric the brat” tabloids labelled him. but that would soon change, as Cantona helped Leeds win the last English Division 1 title before it became the Premier League. The season prior saw Leeds finish 4th and 19 points behind winners, Arsenal. Cantona became a hero in Yorkshire and could do no wrong, but the only constant in Cantona’s career was change. His hero status would soon be traded in for that of a traitor as he committed one of football’s cardinal sins.

The original Red Devil

“A fiery Frenchman and a fiery Scot, how is that relationship going to work?” a question that was posed by a reporter to Sir Alex Ferguson after Eric Cantona was revealed as a Manchester United player. “Well the French and the Scottish have had a few alliances in history, I’m hoping this could be a new alliance” responded Ferguson, and not even he could have imagined the historical significance of this transfer, on not just Manchester United, but on English football as a whole. 1.6 million pounds were paid to United’s bitter rivals Leeds in order to bring Cantona to Old Trafford. It may be bizarre to think about, but the Frenchman was not number 1 on Sir Alex’s list, Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst held that honour, but in a serendipitous turn of events, Hirst rejected United, and Ferguson set his sights on the French striker, Ferguson would have been aware of Cantona as he helped Leeds beat United to the title by just 4 points in the previous season. This, coupled with Advice from Michel Platini and Gerrard Houllier led to a transfer that would mark the start of a new era for the Manchester Club and for the newly christened “Premier League”.

The coming of Cantona began a new age in the red side of Manchester, an age of achievement, character, and above all, winning. Cantona was not one of the homegrown players who many people associate with this era, but he was perhaps the biggest piece of the puzzle, retrospectively one of the faces of the Manchester United team of the 90s. Cantona was United’s first Red Devil, in the sense that he was among the first to embody what the club wanted to be, brash, arrogant, with an unquenchable thirst for success. The Frenchman brought United Their first division 1 title for 26 years in 1993, simultaneously becoming the only player to hold the unique achievement of winning the last-ever English football league and the first Premier League. Cantona pioneered a path that many would follow, setting up the framework of one of the greatest dynasties the sport has ever seen. Manchester United won 7 league titles before 1993. After 1993 they won 13 in 20 years, People will credit this to the Fergusons, the Keanes, and The Giggses, as they were involved in all 13, but Eric Cantona deserves his place on the Mount Rushmore of United Icons, perhaps even atop it, as he was an integral part of the foundation that the legend of Manchester United was built on.

Controversy had not left Cantona in England, he had a mountain of contentious incidents, but atop it, sat perhaps his most famous (or infamous) moment as a footballer. He would revel in the fact that his defining moment in football, was not a goal or an assist, but in fact a Kung-Fu kick to a member of the crowd at Selhurst Park on the 25th of January 1995. For 48 minutes Cantona had been kicked, shoved, pushed, and abused by the Crystal Palace team. In a retort, Cantona Kicked out at Richard Shaw, which saw the red card emerge from the referee’s pocket and shown to the Frenchman. Cantona, stayed on the pitch refusing to leave, after eventually giving in, he walked to the side-lines, where Matthew Simmons, a fan sprinted down to the railing and shouted: “Fu*k off back to France, you French Motherfu*ker”. In a moment of blind rage, and release of frustration, Cantona charged towards the fan, twisting mid-air, and digging his studs into the ribs of Simmons. Cantona would get into two more kicks before being dragged away by players and ground staff. A moment of madness, that would come to define Cantona’s career and it was not something that he was embarrassed of or regretted, as he remarked 27 years later “I would have loved to kick him harder”. An attitude that perfectly sum’s up Cantona as a player, and maybe even as a person.

The legacy of a Renaissance Man

When you google Eric Cantona, his title is “French actor”, Cantona may have had one of the most exciting and interesting post-football chapters of anyone who has played the game. Actor, Director, Producer among other things, as we reflect on Eric Cantona’s career, the title that would best suit him, in my opinion, would be “artist”. My justification for this is simple, Eric Cantona spent every moment on and off the pitch, doing just one thing, expressing himself. He had many ways of doing so, through words, on the pitch, acting, and kicking racists.

Cantona had an impact on English football like we had never and will never see again. He showed the English public, and the footballing world, that players have the right to express themselves as they see fit, he showed them that they had a voice. But perhaps Cantona’s greatest contribution to the English game was the way that he made it The Premier League. Cantona made fans buy into him, he made them believe he was invincible, and if people were watching to see him win or lose, they were watching regardless, Cantona made the Premier League into something you could not miss, at least when he was playing, he made the Premier League box office.

On the pitch, for the 90 minutes, he could really play (when he wanted to). His physical stature gave him an advantage against defences that other forwards didn’t have, He would bully the opposition, his playing style blended the elegance of a French maestro and the physicality of a True No. 9. There was grace in the way he moved and passed, the delicate touches, the intricate one-twos, but there was also power, force and energy that the opposition defenders feared.

But it is the intangibles, that will define Cantona and cement him in the upper echelons of iconic personalities to grace the sport. A charismatic free spirit whose mercurialness knew no bounds, and thrilled the fans of Manchester United. An unprecedented character, the likeness of which we will never see again. In an age where players are labelled “robots”, Cantona’s antics would not be tolerated in today’s game, and that is the beauty of his reign, the timing was perfect. He inspired a generation to play with their collars up, and though his time may seem distant, his influence is still felt today. A reign of chaos, unpredictability, indiscipline and absolute reverence, Cantona’s legacy will be that of a renaissance man, a victor, and above all, a maverick.