Eric Cantona: The most popular and infamous player in English football
Eric Cantona has to be one of the strangest players ever to play football in the English Premier League. He was a dominant force in football wherever in the world he played but his status as a legend was cemented in England. It was also while playing for Manchester United that the fiery Frenchman was involved in the most controversial incident of his career, a flying kick to a fan. He is such an interesting footballer that he managed to make a comeback after that incident and became even more popular after it than he ever was before it. This interesting yet controversial football player’s story needs further examination.
Cantona was a star football player from an early age. He excelled at the game but also had a fiery temper which sometimes got out of control. He started his professional career playing for a club in France called Auxerre, and soon moved to the popular French team Marseille after that. It was during his tenure at Marseille that his temper started to generate as much media attention as his playing did. Cantona is an extreme sort of player, he is very talented at what he does but at the same time he also gets into serious trouble for his crazy antics. Once, in a fit of rage, he ripped off his jersey and threw it to the ground after being substituted. He also famously threw a ball at a referee and was banned for a few matches.
He proved to be very popular with the Manchester United fans with his amazing playing skills and crazy quotes. However his playing days at the club took a U-turn for the worse when in a match, against Crystal Palace in 1995, Cantona got really upset over an opposing fan’s comments and gave the fan a kick that would make kung fu fighters proud. That act was the result of Cantona being sent off in the match and then the fan started making racial comments against the French star. This incensed Cantona so much that he literally lost it and tried to kick the fan. The kick earned him a nine month suspension from football and he was benched by his team. The footballer was also sentenced to two weeks in prison over the attack but this was reduced to 120 hours of community service as usually happens with famous people. The most interesting thing about this story is the fact that after a seemingly career ending assault on a fan, Cantona returned to play for United after his ban and won the Footballer of the Year award for the following year. Then in 1997 he won the Premiership with United and announced his retirement from football at the age of 30.
After retiring from football Cantona has ventured into acting, starring in many commercials and a few films as well. He has also starred in a film about himself called “Looking for Eric”. The film directed by legendary independent film maker Ken Loach was actually quite good and Cantona showed the world he could act. It seems the footballer has an ability to get people to like him even if he does some of the strangest things they have ever seen.
He is, till this day, one of the most popular Manchester United players and fans still remember him fondly. One of the reasons they seem to like him is because he seemed to be an intellectual, A lot of footballers do not seem to have too much going on between the ears and it seems they are all about getting rich, driving flashy cars and having an army of beautiful women by their side. Cantona was different, he seemed to actually enjoy playing football and it seemed to fans that he was genuine and real and he would play the game even if he made no money from it. This could be the reason why he was so liked and so well respected.
Eric Cantona was one of the most polarising figures in football that the game had ever seen. He could be loved at one moment and absolutely hated the next. Over time he made a name for himself and with his wit and intelligence he made an army of fans for himself, so what if he tried to kick people in the face once in a while.
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