Eric Cantona biography: Boss and Footballer

Eric Cantona biography

football player

Soccer player

Eric Cantona

Famous

Ooh ah Cantona, I said, ooh ah Cantona

born May 24, 1966 in Marseille

French former footballer of the late 1980s and 1990s. He ended a pro footballing career at Man Utd where he won 4 Premiership titles in five years, including two League and FA Cup "doubles". Cantona is regarded as having played a major talisman role in the revival of Man Utd as a football powerhouse and he enjoys iconic status in the club. In 2001 he was voted their player of the century, and to this day Utd fans refer to him as "The King".

Career

France
Cantona's first club was Auxerre, where he spent two years in a youth side before making a debut in 1983.

1984 saw Cantona's footballing career put on hold as he carried out national service. After discharge he was loaned out to FC Martigues in the French Second Division. Rejoining Auxerre and signing a pro contract in 1986, his performances in the First Division were good enough to earn him a first full international cap.

He was part of the French under 21 side to won the 1988 U21 European Championship and shortly after that success, he transferred to Olympique de Marseille (also known as "L'OM"), the club he supported as a boy, for a French record fee. Cantona often shown signs of being short tempered in his career to date, and in January 1989 during a friendly game against Torpedo Moscow he ripped off and threw away his jersey after being subbed. His club responded by banning him for a month. Just a few months earlier, he was banned from international matches for insulting a national coach on TV.

Having struggled to settle at Marseille, Cantona moved to Bordeaux on a six month loan and then to Montpellier on a year long loan. At Montpellier, he was involved in a fight with team mate Jean-Claude Lemoult and threw his boots in Lemoult's face. The incident led to six players demanding Cantona be sacked. However, with the support of team mates such as Laurent Blanc and Carlos Valderrama, the club retained his services and Cantona was instrumental as the team went on to win the French Cup. His form persuaded Marseille to take him back.

Back at Marseille, Cantona initially played well under the new coach Franz Beckenbauer. Marseille chairman Bernard Tapie was not satisfied with results, and replaced Beckenbauer with Raymond Goethals with whom Cantona did not see eye-to-eye. Cantona was also continually at odds with Tapie and despite helping the team win the French Division 1 title, he was transferred to Nîmes the following season.

In December 1991, during a match for Nîmes he threw a ball at the referee, having been angered by one of his decisions. He was summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the French Football Federation and was banned for a month. Cantona responded by walking up to each member of the hearing committee in turn and calling him an idiot. His ban was increased to 2 months. For Cantona this was the last straw and he announced his retirement from football in December 1991.

The French national team coach Michel Platini was a keen fan of Cantona, and persuaded him to make a comeback. On the advice of Gérard Houllier, he moved to England to restart his career.

England

Leeds United
After originally come to England to trial for Sheffield Wednesday, in February 1992 Cantona joined Leeds United FC, where he was a part of the team that won the final old First Division championship in (1991-92). He was inspirational in the Charity Shield 4-3 win over Liverpool in 1992, scoring a hat-trick.

He left Leeds before the end of the 1992-93 season, which saw them finishing 17th out of 22 in the newly formed Premier League, moving to Man United in November 1992 for the relatively small fee of £1.2 million, much to the disgust of the Leeds fans, although Howard Wilkinson, the Leeds Utd manager, was eager for him to leave.

Man United
United's season had been disappointing up to Cantona's signing. They had problems scoring goals: Brian McClair was off form, and summer signing Dion Dublin had broken his leg early in the season. Cantona quickly settled in the team, not only scoring many goals but also creating chances for the other players. For the next two years, Utd went on an amazing run, winning the inaugural Premiership in 1993 (their first Championship title in 26 years) and then a double in 1994, with Cantona's two penalties helping them to a 4-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup Final. Cantona was voted PFA Player Of The Year in 1994.

Cantona became infamous for an incident that occurred on 25 January 1995. In an away match against Crystal Palace, after being sent off by the referee for a vengeful kick on Palace defender Richard Shaw (after Shaw had pulled his shirt without punishment), he launched a 'kung-fu' style kick against a racist Crystal Palace fan, Matthew Simmons, who later was found to have a affiliation with the BNP. (At Simmons' subsequent trial for threatening language and behaviour, he attacked the prosecution counsel after being found guilty, leaping over a bench and executing a flying kick of his own. He was sentenced to seven days in jail, but only served 24 hours of his sentence.) At a press conference called later, Cantona gave what is perhaps his most famous quote. As journalists gathered to hear him speak, Cantona entered the room, sat down and said, in a slow and deliberate manner:

When the seagulls... follow the trawler... it's because they think... sardines will be thrown into the sea

He then got up from his seat and left, leaving many of the assembled crowd bemused. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after an appeal court overturned a 2 week prison sentence for assault. He was suspended by The FA until the following October. Man Utd eventually lost the Premiership title to Blackburn.

There had been much speculation that Cantona would leave English football when his ban finished, but Alex Ferguson persuaded him to stay in Manchester and Cantona was once again inspirational. Utd had sold several key players at the start of the season and replaced them with players from the club's youth team and their prospects of winning the league were not looking good. Much hype surrounded Cantona's return game, against Liverpool on 1 October 1995. In the match, Cantona set up a goal for Nicky Butt inside 2 minutes, and scored a penalty after Ryan Giggs (the one player Cantona claimed had a telepathic understanding with him) had been upended. Eight months without competitive football had inevitably taken its toll and Cantona struggled for form prior to Christmas. Things then changed, however, with his goals helping Utd to recapture the league having been twelve points behind Newcastle Utd in January 1996. There was a spate of important 1-0 wins for Utd, with Cantona the goal scorer. Fittingly, it was the same 1 - 0 scoreline, and the same scorer, in that year's FA Cup Final against Liverpool. His redemption was complete after the scandals and lows of a year earlier. Cantona gave a post match interview saying: "You know that's life. Up and down." Man Utd became the first team to win "the double" twice.

Cantona galvanised the Utd team to greater success in Europe the following year, with the likes of Ryan Giggs and youngsters David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville emerging under his influence. As Utd retained the league in the 1996-97 season, Cantona had won six league titles in seven years, the exception being the 1995 season which he missed through suspension. At the end of a lacklustre season by his standards, which was fuelled by United's eliminated to Borussia Dortmund in the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League, his announcement that he was retiring from football at the age of 30 still came as a surprise. Shortly afterwards, he became captain of the French National Beach Football team.

In 2004 Cantona was quoted as saying "I'm so proud the fans still sing my name, but I fear tomorrow they will stop. I fear it because I love it. And everything you love, you fear you will lose",.

In 2006 The Sun newspaper reported Cantona as saying that Man Utd had lost their soul and that the current players were a bunch of sheep. The Old Trafford idol reckoned the days of maverick entertainers like himself and George Best were gone and feared the Red Devils were betraying their past by putting out boring, functional teams. However on the Contrary he was interviewed in the Number 7's issue of 'United Magazine' in August 2006 stating he will only come back to Manchester United as 'Number 1' (meaning not return as assistant manager or coach) and would create a team like no other and play the way he thinks football should be played.

Cantona opposed the Malcolm Glazer takeover of Man Utd, and stated he will not return to the club, even as a manager, while the Glazer family is in charge.

The Art of Game painting featuring Eric Cantona, Phillip Neville, Gary Neville, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Sir Alex Ferguson.

French National Team

Eric Cantona was given his full international début against West Germany in August 1987 by the then national team manager Henri Michel. In September 1988, angered after being dropped from the national team, Cantona insulted Michel, post match, and was indefinitely banned from all international matches. Michel was sacked shortly after that having failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup.

The new coach was Michel Platini and one of his first acts was to recall Cantona who was a favourite of his. He claimed Cantona would be selected as long as he was playing competitive top class football, Platini had initiated Cantona's move to England to restart his career. France qualified for the 1992 European Football Championship held in Sweden, but failed to win a single game despite the striking partnership of Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin. Platini resigned after the finals to be replaced by Gérard Houllier.

Under Houllier, France failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA. after losing the final game 2-1 at home to Bulgaria when a draw would have sufficed. David Ginola lost the ball in the game which led to Bulgaria's winning goal by Emil Kostadinov. Cantona was reportedly angry with Ginola after the game. Houllier resigned and Aimé Jacquet took over.

Jacquet began to rebuild the national team in preparation for Euro 96 (1996 European Championship) and appointed Cantona as captain. Cantona remained the captain until the Selhurst Park incident in January 1995. The suspension which resulted from this incident also prevented him from playing international matches.

By the time Cantona's suspension was completed, he lost his role as the team's playmaker to Zinedine Zidane, as Jacquet revamped the squad with some new blood and built it around Zidane. Cantona, Papin and Ginola were never again selected for the French team and missed Euro 96. Though there was criticism about Cantona's omission, as he was playing his best football in the FA Premier League, Jacquet himself stated the team had done well without Cantona, and he wanted to keep faith with the players who had taken them so far. The decision was vindicated as Les Bleus subsequently won the World Cup in 1998.

To this day, Cantona still harbours resentment for the national team but also admiration for his adopted country; at Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he asserted he would support England and not France.

Career in "retirement"
Cantona's subsequent career has mostly been in the French cinema, primarily as an actor although he has also directed a short film Apporte-moi ton amour in 2002; outside of France, he had a cameo as the French ambassador in the movie Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett in 1998. See filmography below.

Eric Cantona in an advert for Nike. Cantona was born in the same year as England's World Cup triumph. Since retiring from professional football Cantona has appeared in numerous European tv advertisements, especially for Nike. Cantona made cameos in two memorable commercials, one starring the Brazilian national team playing football in an airport, and another involving the national teams of both Brazil and Portugal. In a worldwide advertising campaign during the run up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he starred as the organiser of underground games (branded by Nike as 'Scorpion football') between football superstars like Thierry Henry, Hidetoshi Nakata, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Luís Figo. In an earlier UK Nike commercial, he appeared playing amateur football on Hackney Marshes with other stars including Ian Wright, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler. In a Nike campaign in the advance of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Cantona appears as the lead spokesman for the Joga Bonito organization, an association attempting to eliminate acting and fake play from football. He also starred in an Irish EuroMillions advertisement.

Cantona has continued his interest in beach soccer games in southern Asia and at the Inaugural Kronenbourg beach soccer in 2002, in the city of Brighton. He managed the French Team which won the inaugural FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2005. He also coached the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup French National Team, which finished in third place.

Cantona's achievements in the English League were marked in 2002 when he was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame.

Trivia
Eric was born in Paris but grew up in the Mediterranean city of Marseille in Caillols suburb. He was the middle son in a family of three boys.
Cantona spent 1984 doing his national service in the French Army
His first ever appearance for the Reds was against Benfica in Lisbon, in a friendly to mark the 50th birthday of Eusebio.
His first competitive appearance was as second half sub against Manchester city at Old Trafford, on December 6th, 1992
He did not always wear the 7 shirt. In Cantona's first match for Utd, he wore the number 12 as a substitute. In 1993/94 at the advent of squad numbers he was given 7, taking over from Bryan Robson, who had worn the number 7 throughout his time at Utd. Robson wore 12 in his final season before becoming player/manager of Middlesbrough FC. Beckham took the shirt in 1997/98 with Cristiano Ronaldo succeeding him in 2003/04.
Whilst playing for Utd he lived in a modest semi detached house in the town of Boothstown, west of Manchester. He said he did not need a big house or the trappings of wealth.
His final competitive game came against West Ham on 11th May 1997. His final appearance before retiring was five days later on Friday 16th May. In a testimonial for David Busst against Coventry City at Highfield Road, Eric scored twice in a 2-2 draw.
Eric was the star of many Nike adverts, famously playing against a team of demonic creatures in "Good vs Evil" at a Roman coliseum and playing amateur football on Hackney Marshes.
He was later the ring master of the £10 million The Secret Tournament, in a caged arena featuring stars like Henry, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Luis Figo.
Cantona is still featuring in Nike ads today - nearly ten years after his retirement, he fronted their Germany 2006 advertising campaign. www.soccercommercials.com
He has starred in many films. His first speaking role was in 'Elizabeth' in 1998 and he went on to star in 'Mookie', 'Les Enfants du Marais'.
His starring role in 'L'Outremangeur' (The Over-eater) in which he donned a fat suit to play an overweight detective won him praise from movie critics.
He was married to Isobel and has two children but is now divorced.
His brother Joel was also a footballer and played for Ujpest Dozsa and Stockport County.
His father lives in the village of Ste Cecile-les-Vignes in the Vaucluse department of Provence in France.
He became captain of the French National Beach Football team and won a beach soccer world championship in Rio de Janeiro
Cantona's personal idols are Maradona, Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, Jim Morrison and French poet Rimbaud.
He has been outspoken in his criticism of the Glazer takeover.
After he left Utd he lived in Barcelona for 4 years and moved to Marseille. He currently lives in Paris.
Cantona joins the company of fellow Man Utd players George Best and Ryan Giggs along with Alfredo Di Stéfano, who have never played in a World Cup tournament match despite being stars in their professional club.

Filmography
A full list of films featuring Eric Cantona can be found at: Eric Cantona at the Internet Movie Database

Le bonheur est dans le pré - 1995 - Lionel
Eleven Men Against Eleven - 1995 - Player (uncredited)
Elizabeth - 1998 - Monsieur de Foix
Mookie - 1998 - Antoine Capella
Les enfants du marais - 1999 - Jo Sardi
La grande vie! (English title: The High Life) - 2001 - Joueur de pétanque 2
L'Outremangeur (English title: The Over-Eater) - 2003 - Séléna
Les Clefs de bagnole (English title: The Car Keys) - 2003
La vie est à nous - 2005
Une belle histoire - 2005
Lisa et le pilote d'avion - 2007
Le Deuxième souffle (English title: Second Wind) - 2007

Erec Canntona Erik Cantonna Earic Canntonna

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