OOH, AHH, CANTONA

Midway through the 1991-92 season, Michel Platini strode up to the boss of one of England’s biggest clubs, and began his sales pitch.

“I’ve got a player for you,” he told the man stood in front of him, a fearsome Scot who’d enjoyed managerial success north of the border but had yet to steer his current team to a league title in England. Platini believed he knew just the person who could seriously improve their fortunes.

“He’s a problem boy, but he’s also really talented,” said the French legend, then the coach of the national team. “He’d be perfect for your club.”

Graeme Souness wasn’t so sure. Liverpool were ninth in the top flight, their glory days fading to grey. That night, they’d beaten Auxerre at Anfield in the UEFA Cup, but that hadn’t softened Souey’s mood. The answer was an immediate no.

“Listen Michel,” he said, “I’m fighting fires at the moment, trying to get some people out the door. They’re resisting – I’m fighting

a dressing room. The last thing that I need is another controversial figure in there.”

Liverpool had just turned down the chance to sign Eric Cantona. A few weeks later, in December 1991, the France international announced his retirement at the age of 25. Banned for a month for throwing the ball at a referee, the Nimes forward responded to the disciplinary panel by approaching each member and uttering the word ‘idiot’ in their direction, one by one. When the suspension was then doubled, Cantona called it quits.

Thankfully, his retirement didn’t last long. On February 8, 1992, a day after the expiry of his two-month ban, he was making his debut for Leeds United, at Boundary Park against Oldham Athletic. Nine months later, he joined Manchester United… and the rest is history.

While Liverpool would go three decades without a league title, Cantona helped their biggest rivals end their own 26-year top-flight drought in 1993, and begin a glittering era of incredible dominance. Thirty years after his arrival on these shores, this is the inside story of the man who changed English football.

1966 WAS A GREA T YEAR…

Born in May 1966, he was raised in Marseille by father Albert – a painter of Italian heritage – and mother Eleonore, whose parents had left Spain during the Civil War. Cantona was a 14-year-old turning out for his junior side Caillolais when he met his footballing mentor.

“Eric already had that way of standing very straight, that haughty stance,” long-serving former Auxerre boss Guy Roux remembers, as he talks to FourFourTwo. “He looked like a prince at a ceremony alongside the Queen of England.

“He came to my attention via someone I’d sent to a trials event in Aix-en-Provence. They told me about a phenomenon, tall and physically strong, who already had all the qualities needed. We immediately tried to get him to Auxerre. He’d already had a lot of trials, particularly at Nice, but agreed to come to our club with a dozen other kids.

“At the end of the 10-day training camp, we put him into a short eight-vs-eight match with our first-team professionals, and he was excellent – even if some of them criticised him for dribbling too much. We could already tell that there was a fire inside him.

“I met him face to face, and asked him if we could get him something he’d like. He told me about a jersey, so I sent him to the club shop where he was given a jersey, some shorts and socks. I later learned that he’d made the same request at Nice, and they’d charged him for it.”

Cantona signed for Auxerre, initially staying in a lodge that once housed local monks, near the city’s cathedral. He didn’t exactly live like a monk, though, even then.

“He was the most difficult [to manage],” Roux admits. “He had a late childhood and a turbulent adolescence. His training was under the guidance of Daniel Rolland, and we managed Eric between us.

“I remember an argument he had one afternoon with one of his best friends, Stephane Mazzolini. The two started chasing each other and they ended up in the dining hall, with Cantona trying to catch him. They jumped from table to table, overturning all the plates, cutlery and glasses. A massacre!

“Eric was the band leader – not of a mafia gang, but of a cheerful little group who were mostly successful on the field. Later on, one match in Lens was postponed because of fog, so we travelled directly to Saint-Brieuc to prepare for a game at Brest. In the evening, we went to the