Bloody hell, Cantona’s gone mad.. even Fergie was stunned into silence
United chairman knew Frenchman was for the off but didn’t expect to witness the madness that followed
THE sheer, unprecedented scale of what happened at Selhurst Park on January 25, 1995 meant everyone had an opinion – and everyone wanted to voice it.
A 1-1 draw in south London has become arguably the most written about game in English Premier League history.
In the fallout from his red card Eric Cantona was charged with assault, banned for nine months and fined £10,000.
While Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t see anything of the incident, chairman Martin Edwards was looking straight at it.
“It happened right in perfect view of the directors box,” said Edwards.
“As soon as Eric got involved with the player you knew he was going to be sent off. As he was walking down the touchline there were a few of us looking at the players and wondering what had been said.
“Eric’s being led down the touchline and suddenly he breaks off and throws himself into a kung-fu kick at a supporter. I was thinking, ‘Bloody hell, he’s lost it. He’s gone mad’.
“I went into the dressing room afterwards and it was dead quiet. We were all stunned really. I don’t think Alex said anything to him.
“The controversy went with the territory of being at Manchester United but I had never seen anything like Selhurst before and I don’t think anybody else had. It was deeply unusual.”
Palace manager Alan Smith, speaking to the BBC in 2015, appeared to have been seduced by a theatrical vision and said: “What distinctly hit me was that they played in all black that night.
“None of them had shaved and they looked a pretty ferocious team. I was thinking, ‘This is going to be a long evening’.
“I don’t have a lot of sympathy with Cantona. He is a big man and he had given a fair amount out.”
Ferguson went to bed at 2am but couldn’t sleep and got up at 5.25am to watch the video. He confessed what he saw was “pretty appalling”. He said: “I have never been able to elicit an explanation from Eric but my own feeling is that anger at himself over the ordering off, and resentment at the referee’s earlier inaction, combined to take him over the brink. “I am sure
Eric is haunted by it all now. But I felt he had to go.”
It would take a month for Ferguson to do an about turn and become defensive over his player, as in his diary entry of February 21: “We are proud of the credibility of the club and we tried to uphold it.
“The Cantona thing really hit us badly. You can’t leave your character in the dressing room, it goes out on to the field with you.”
Ferguson’s initial stance softened because he felt his player was being hung out to dry in a public trial by media.
United banned Cantona for the rest of the season. He was told to attend a meeting with Ferguson at Old Trafford where he was informed of the club’s position. While he was there he took his son Raphael to the club store to get a replica shirt with “Cantona 7” on the back.
Weeks later, when Cantona was suspended for nine months and fined £10,000 by an FA disciplinary commission, Ferguson said the only way he expected another player to receive a similar ban was if they “ran over (FA chairman) Bert Millichip’s dog”.
He said: “I think the commission went too far. You can’t have people in charge of an organisation like the FA being dictated to by the media.”
Cantona’s team-mates rallied to his defence. In his first autobiography Roy Keane said: “My immediate reaction was: So what? Fair f ****** play to Eric.
“I might have done the same myself. When I saw the pictures I could see it was a nasty incident.
“But my attitude didn’t change. My heart went out to him. All the lads basically felt the same. We didn’t pat him on the back and say ‘well done’ but Eric was a good lad and we weren’t going to turn our backs on him now.
“While Eric had been seriously out of order he’d done nothing to warrant his career being ended.”
Adapted by Mike Walters from King Eric: Portrait of the Artist who changed English football, by Wayne Barton, published by Reach Sport.
My immediate reaction was: So what? Fair f ****** play to Eric. I might have done the same myself ROY KEANE ON THE ERIC CANTONA INCIDENT