We’ve been building up to this. You knew it was coming. It’s finally time to talk about Eric Cantona — because not all showboaters are made equal, you see.
There are levels to this. Being a showboater isn’t just about flair or flicks or the occasional step-over in a meaningless part of the pitch. To be a proper showboater - a showman, a maverick, an artist - you need to have something different in your locker. Not just ability, but aura.
You can be tricky, sure. You can be cocky. You can be mercurial, even temperamental. You can be all of those things. You can be some of those things. But Eric? He had the lot. The full cocktail - shaken, stirred, and then set alight with a match. He was a firework show wrapped in a football kit. But you know that. That’s not even the part we’re here to talk about.
We want to talk about something else - something beneath the collar.
Eric was a rough diamond at Leeds. Misunderstood, mishandled, mistrusted. But Sir Alex saw it. He saw the sparkle before most could even see past the dirt.
He was flicks. He was tricks. He was nutmegs and back-heels and dinks and chips and everything in between. He was chest control and chin raised. He was turned-up collar and turned-on brilliance. But above all else, he was a winner. He didn’t compromise. It wasn’t one or the other. It wasn’t ‘I want to win but I’d like to do it beautifully’. No. Eric could only win in a way that was innate to his very nature. And by nature he was beautiful and he was a bastard. You want to go toe-to-toe with your tippy tappy? Pas de soucis. You want to kick lumps out of each other first? Bring your shin pads. You want to slag him off while he does it? Prepare for a kung-fu kick in the face, sunshine.
Sir Alex could teach his young lads how to win. He could instil discipline, belief, resilience - all the virtues a good player needs to get over the line. But he couldn’t show them. Not really. Not in 90 minutes, not on a pitch. Eric could. Paul Ince put it best when he said: “He took responsibility away from us. It was like he said: ‘I’m Eric, and I’m here to win the title for you.’” That wasn’t arrogance. That was prophecy.
Eric Cantona is the reason you love Manchester United. Or he’s the reason you hate them. Either way, it’s him. He changed everything - absolutely everything. He took the biggest club in England and put it on his back, adjusted his collar, and walked into history. He was not just a showboater. He wasn’t merely a brilliant showboater. He was the showboater. King of the Showboaters.
He didn’t just entertain. He inspired. You name them - Bergkamp, Henry, Ronaldo, Ibrahimović. Eric either taught them directly or showed them what was possible. He lit the path.
He was, unequivocally, the best the Premier League has ever seen.
Now, who fancies a few sardines?
Words by Lee Kelleher