What legend Cantona thinks of Mourinho and why he paid a Sandy Row homage to Belfast’s Best
OLD Trafford legend Eric Cantona has told a Belfast audience that Jose Mourinho ‘is not the right man for Manchester United’.
The United all-time great was speaking at An Evening With Eric Cantona at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on Monday.
Still revered by Reds fans 21 years after his retirement in 1997, the iconic Frenchman was roundly applauded by a packed auditorium when asked for his views on the current United boss (below).
“I love Jose,” he insisted. “He is a great manager who has won so many things, and he will win more, maybe even this season, maybe the Champions League.
“But he is not the right man for Manchester United, a great club that will always be great. They will win things, I know they will.
“But the way they play? Not good. The manager has them playing the wrong way for the fans. No fun, no creativity.
“United teams should play in a joyful way, with enjoyment and excitement. I want to see players free to express themselves, to try to win games instead of being sent out not to lose.
“I like Mourinho. He has a good personality but not for United.”
Cantona (52) also suggested United should consider appointing one of their illustrious old boys as their next manager.
“It has worked for many clubs — Zidane at Real Madrid, Guardiola at Barcelona, Antonio Conte at Juventus, all were successful managers at clubs where they starred as players.
“United, too, should give a chance to an ex-player — Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes.
“All these players come in, knowing the identity and soul of their clubs, the same with Giggs and Scholes with United, and they also learned so
much under Sir Alex Ferguson.”
Cantona, now pursuing a TV and film career in places as disparate as
Croatia and
China, also revealed he has met and spoken with his former manager as he continues his recovery from emergency surgery after suffering a brain haemorrhage in May this year.
“Sir Alex is brave and strong,” Cantona assured his audience.
“He also has so much humanity. He knows football and players perfectly. That is why all of us who played for him have so much love and respect for him as a friend and a father to us.
“He was the greatest manager in the world. He made us work hard and imposed limits, but inside those limits we had freedom to enjoy the game, to be successful and, in return, we gave more than 100 per cent for him.”
Cantona also revealed how he would have quit football but for Ferguson’s persuasiveness, when he fled home to France after the FA imposed a nine month ban on him for his infamous kung fu kick assault on a Crystal Palace supporter who verbally abused him following his sending off in a game at Selhurst Park in January 1995.
“I was told I was not allowed to play for the reserves or even wear a red shirt in that time,” he said. “After a while, we organised a reserve game behind closed doors to help with my fitness, but a press photographer was hiding up a tree and, when his pictures appeared in the media, the FA threatened toextendmyban.
“I was so dejected. I went back to France and decided I would not play again in England. But Alex Ferguson came to Paris, took me out to dinner and persuaded me that I had a future with Manchester United.
“I returned after the ban and scored in my first game against Liverpool, but in truth I did not play well for the two months after that. In fact, I was bad. But Alex Ferguson understood that I needed to be playing to get back to my levels and kept me in the team. We went on to win the double and I scored the winner in the FA Cup Final against Liverpool.
“What other manager in world football would have acted like that? He knew how to get the best from every individual player.”
In the course of an entertaining, often humorous, stage interview, Cantona played to the gallery in his typical imperious Gallic style, describing famous goals, games and incidents.
And, in deference to his host city, he told an appreciative home crowd that his biggest regret in football is that he didn’t have a chance to play with another United great and Northern Ireland superstar, George Best.
There was no doubting his sincerity as yesterday he sought out an iconic George Best mural in Sandy Row to pose for a picture which he posted to his 367,000 Instagram followers.
Cantona will be back for a second instalment at the Waterfront on Friday.