Eric Cantona

Bath City have support of Cantona

Linus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:32 +0000

Looking for Eric director Ken Loach has revealed that Cantona sent a good luck message ahead of Bath City’s match with Grimsby in the FA Cup.

Loach told BBC Radio Bristol: “I sent Eric a text before the Grimsby game and he sent me a good luck message. He’ll be delighted.”

Bath will play either Forest Green Rovers or Mansfield in the next round on 28 November. They defeated League Two side Grimsby 2-0 on Saturday.

Cantona to help Bath

Cantona will be in Dubai for friendlies

Linus — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000

Eric Cantona is jetting into Dubai to lead a French team in a series of friendly matches during the build-up for the 2009 Fifa World Beach Soccer World Cup. Cantona is the coach of the French national team and, barring some last-minute changes, is confirmed to be in Dubai late Sunday.

“Last week, Eric’s wife delivered a baby, but when I spoke to him a couple of days back, he confirmed to us that he will come to Dubai with the team,” said Joan Cusco, Member of the Fifa Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee.

After his retirement from football, Cantona got involved in promoting beach soccer and successfully led his team to the World Cup title in Brazil in 2005 when France beat Portugal in the final.

“For the moment, he has confirmed 100 per cent that he will be in Dubai on November 8,” Cusco said.

France is scheduled to play friendly matches against Uzbekistan (November 9and the UAE (November 11) as a build-up for the 2009 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to be held at Umm Suqueim Beach in Jumeirah from November 16 to 22.

France failed to qualify for the World Cup this year.

Hansen: Ronaldo bigger than Cantona

Linus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen claims Manchester United were inevitably going to miss Cristiano Ronaldo because he believes the Portuguese winger is the Premier League’s greatest ever player. Hansen suggests the current World and European player of the year was even better than Eric Cantona and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.

Hansen told the BBC: “I tipped Liverpool to win the Premier League before the start of the season.”

“This was not a prediction based on old Anfield loyalties – it was based on the evidence of what I had seen from Liverpool in the last three months of last season.”

“Liverpool had enjoyed good results against the other top four sides while Manchester United were inevitably weakened by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.”

“People talk about Eric Cantona and Thierry Henry, but Ronaldo was the biggest player ever in the Premier League, so United were never going to replace what he gave them.”

United fans plan Cantona mask

Linus — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:26 +0000

Manchester United fans are planning to don Eric Cantona masks in a crucial Premier League encounter against Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow.

After a thrilling 3-3 Anfield draw in January 1994, Liverpool supporters unfurled a taunting banner which read: “Au revoir, Cantona and Man United. Come back when you’ve won 18.”

Now, following a 15-year wait, the bitter rivals are all square in terms of titles won – and Manchester United fans are relishing the prospect of letting the home crowd know just that.

They plan to arrive at Anfield sporting masks of United legend Eric Cantona.

T-shirts have also been printed with the slogan “18 titles and that’s a fact,” in reference to Liverpool manager’s Rafael Benitez’s rant of a year ago.

Steve Evets: Men & Women Love Cantona

Linus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:09 +0000

Eric Cantona’s co-star in the movie Looking for Eric, Steve Evets explains the appeal of the enigmatic Frenchman.

“Women love him,” he ponders. “And blokes love him.”

“If you caught him sh***ing your wife you’d ask if she was up to scratch.”

The actor also added that being on the camera with the famous footballer under the direction of Ken Loach was like being in a “legend sandwich”.

Steve also revealed that he had no idea Cantona was in the movie until he shot their first scene together.

Watch an interview with the director Ken Loach, Steve Evets and The King himself @The Sun.

Poborsky believes Nedved was better than Cantona

Linus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:16 +0000

The former Manchester United winger Karel Poborsky believes the greatest player he has ever played with during his illustrious career is Juventus and Czech Republic legend Pavel Nedved. The ex-Benfica and Lazio winger claims his Old Trafford teammates Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel were also brilliant, but Nedved was top.

Poborsky told the Daily Mail: “It’s a difficult one, because I am always proud that I had the opportunity to play with great players like Cantona and (Peter) Schmeichel,”

“But if I had to mention just one, it would be Pavel Nedved.”

Poborsky moved to Manchester United in the aftermath of Euro 96, where the ponytailed midfielder scored one of the goals of the tournament against Portugal.

Lipton Commercial – Water Polo

Linus — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:33 +0000

Lipton Commercial – Golf

Linus — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:09 +0000

Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King

Linus — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:00:59 +0000

Many have tried to persuade Eric Cantona to write his autobiography. He never will. Philippe Auclair has interviewed every key player in Cantona’s life to produce a biography that reveals, for the first time, the heart and inner thoughts of this most extraordinary character. Cantona played for six different French clubs, making his international debut at twenty-one, before coming to England in 1992 and making an immediate impact with Leeds United. He transformed the team but became even more talismanic when he moved to Manchester United, where to this day Manchester United fans refer to him as ‘King Eric’. Eric Cantona graced the Premiership like few others and he remains a deeply compelling figure to anyone who cares remotely about football.

Get your copy of the book today!

‘The most rounded portrait of the United legend yet published…United fans will miss Cantona even more once they have dived into Auclair’s excellent biography…. But where this book breaks new ground is in tracing the career-long battle between Cantona the sportsman and the frustrated, perfection-seeking artist.’ The Times

‘A very French book about a brilliant anglophile French footballer, written by a very good anglophile French journalist. It takes its subject seriously and asks that you do the same. It is clearly, for the author, a labour of love rather than a quick-buck hagiography — a fascinating portrait of an exquisitely talented and intelligent but also petulant and arrogant man who illuminated and perhaps changed for ever the British game: Eric Cantona.’ Rod Liddle, The Sunday Times

‘[A] brilliant dissection [that] grabs the reader by the lapels, or in an affectionate embrace, as one’s sympathies alternately swing towards Cantona and then violently away from him. Cantona’s playing career and football abilities can be accompanied by a roaring soundtrack of fans, managers and players. Everyone has an opinion. But Auclair saves his best, gentlest, most insightful whispers for his examination of Cantona the man. It is what makes this the best of the biographies.’ Glasgow Herald

‘Here, at last, is a definitive account of Cantona’s extraordinary life… A truly great book [from] an outstandingly gifted biographer’ GQ

‘An imaginative and groundbreaking book’ Kevin McCarra, Guardian

‘A tour de force, at once elegant and exhaustive…This is a book about an outstanding gifted footballer by an outstandingly accomplished journalist.’ Brian Glanville

‘For years, football biography has been the lowest form of literature. There have been occasional examples that have risen above the pit – particularly about managers – but for the most part they are the worst kind of hack-work, stitched-together cuttings jobs that are, frankly, a con, luring in the unwary buyer by virtue of the glamorous name on the cover. Philippe Auclair’s biography of Eric Cantona may just change that. It is, in the main, simply a superior example of what has gone before (although saying that is like saying that a Ferrari is a superior example of a handcart), a meticulously detailed examination of a fascinating character… But there is also a more unusual side to the book, a series of passages dotted through the text [in which] Auclair reflects on his won experiences as a Frenchman living in England, and how they relate to Cantona. He also muses – in what might be considered the most French passages – on a series of quasi-philosophical themes: what is it, for instance, that makes a great goal? Or exactly what is the interaction between fan and game? The result is a fascinating and unusual book, one that might just usher in a new age of football biography.’ Jonathan Wilson, 4-4-2 Magazine.

Vignal in English return thanks to Cantona

Linus — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:43:32 +0000

Gregory Vignal has credited his return to England to Eric Cantona.

The new Birmingham left-back was persuaded to leave Lens by Eric Cantona when they met at a bull fight.

Vignal, 28, said: “One of my friends is a matador. I went along and saw Eric there and he told me I should get back to England.”