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A Frenchman with a serious problem with authority - referees,
managers and even the French FA had already been the target of his
ire - who came to Leeds to everyone's great surprise halfway
through the 1991-92 charge for the Championship. His career with
Nimes in France seemed to be at an end because of his personal
troubles, but he'd been over in England on trial at Sheffield
Wednesday: when they asked him to stay for an extended trial he
wasn't happy - and at that point Wilko gambled £900,000 on
signing him.
He only played a handful of games that season, mainly from the
bench, but did score some absolutely brilliant goals. With Leeds'
indifferent form at the start of the next campaign, his true nature
started to show itself: a genius in a winning side but a liability
when the chips were down and the team needed to pull together.
After some particularly poor performances - notably against Rangers
in the European Cup - Cantona found himself out of the starting
line-up and very unhappy. An abysmal performance in a league cup
defeat at Watford rounded off his Leeds career: a phone call from
Alex Ferguson secured the bargain of the century for Manchester
United and helped transform what was admittedly a good and
improving Old Trafford outfit into the great unit that dominated
English football from 1993 onwards.
In his time at Old Trafford he won a pile of trophies, but he
continued to show the nasty side of his nature, and only the
presence of that mystical Red Devil badge on his shirt saved him
from more red cards and long bans as referees and the FA turned a
blind eye to numerous boots and elbows on opposition players. The
FA finally had to act when he attacked a spectator who had been
shouting abuse at him when he was dismissed at Selhurst Park, and
although he returned to the Man U side after that, he never quite
had the same edge, and the presence of a young David Beckham had
started to shift the focus of Alex Ferguson's side away from the
Frenchman.
He's still playing football - but these days it's the burgeoning
beach football circuit, where a skillful flick counts more than the
ability to sprint around the court. He's also appeared in a couple
of films - but unsurprisingly, he's stayed out of the mainstream,
focusing on art-house movies rather than Hollywood
blockbusters.
james says: iam the brother of the man that he kicked and before
that we all loved cantona but after that we didnt like him at
all
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