The truth about why Eric Cantona didn't join Sheffield Wednesday

[@owlstalk]

 

imagine if we'd signed Eric Cantona when he came to Sheffield Wednesday on a very short trial?

Would that have changed our history? (pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to handle such a strong personality at SWFC - particularly under Trevor 'ruined the club' Francis)

Anyway - thought we'd try today to find out what the definitive story is as to why Eric Cantona didn't sign for us and went instead to Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United

 

 

Stories have been changed and different versions given by the same people over the years and it's been a frustrating thing trying to dig down to what actually went on. 

 

I'm going to post as many articles as I can in this thread with stories of why Eric didn't stay here. Feel free to dig in and post any that you can find, and let's see if we can get the definitive story why Eric Cantona didn't sign full time for Sheffield Wednesday FC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[@owlstalk]

 

 

[@owlstalk]

 

 

[@owlstalk]

From The Sheffield Star:

He was "le one" that got away - and 25 years ago, fiery French footballer Eric Cantona turned his back on a move to Sheffield Wednesday after a bizarre debut. It was in the winter of 1992 that the Owls made the footballing headlines when Cantona, who would go on to become one of the game's greatest ever - if most controversial - stars.

Love him or loathe him, King Eric divided the world of football during his playing days - but rather than the glittering career he enjoyed with Manchester United, the Frenchman could have been a Hillsborough favourite. But he made only one appearance in the blue and white stripes emblazoned with the Mr Tom sponsor - on an indoor court.

Back in 1991, Nimes were desperate to get rid of the hot-headed Cantona after he threw a ball at a referee. His response to getting a one-month ban for the act? He walked up to each member of the French FA's disciplinary panel and called them an idiot.

 

 

Cantona was threatening to retire from the game, but the chance to move to England changed his mind and Sheffield Wednesday were the first to offer Cantona a trial. After a week of training indoors due to bad weather and including his debut on a synthetic pitch, then boss Trevor Francis asked the striker to stay on another week and train on grass.

Cantona wasn't keen and was signed by Leeds United, whom he helped to the First Division title before joining Manchester United to win several more trophies - and of course, deliver that kung fu kick and his infamous speech about seagulls and trawlers that turned him into a cult footballing icon. It was exactly 25 years ago today that Cantona made his full English debut for Leeds - but his association with the English game began with a rejection. Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was approached after a game against Auxerre.

 

He said: "We had played Auxerre at home and Michel Platini came to see me. He said he had a player — a problem boy but a proper player. Cantona. I said the last thing I needed was another problem player. "I said I was looking for something else. I said no thanks."

Which is what led Eric to Sheffield. The Star dubbed him "Eric Le Brat" and so it would prove - after playing one match for the Owls in the 6-a-side Transatlantic Challenge at Sheffield Arena in January 1992, he was on his way up the M1 to Leeds.

Said Francis at the time: "He rejected my request and he’s gone to Leeds, it’s a great move for him, and I wish him the very best."

 

[vulva]

Wednesday used to train at Aurora, and Cantona played 90 minutes in a full scale practice match. Think it was against Oldham. He scored a hat trick, the last one a 30 yard free kick. I know this I as was ballboy. I don't think not signing him was anything to do with the urban myth about playing on grass, although the above game was on the AstroTurf. 

[@owlstalk]

From The Daily Mail:

 

There are few names in football that bring with them as much mystique as Eric Cantona.

 

Rightfully nicknamed ‘Le Roi (The King)’ by fans of Manchester United, Cantona changed the club’s fortunes, inspiring a rise under Alex Ferguson that defined the modern era of the game.

 

Twenty-five years ago today Cantona made his first competitive appearance in England. It was not in a red shirt but in the white of Leeds United.

 

The story of how he came to these shores is as full of twists as the career that followed. And it was not with a mystique he arrived. Instead, the name Cantona was shrouded in controversy.

 

In December 1991, he was at a low ebb. The France international was summoned to a disciplinary hearing after throwing a ball at a referee while playing for Nimes. He was handed a one month ban. His response? To call every single member of the disciplinary panel an idiot, which saw his suspension extended.

 

Cantona announced his career was over, but he could barely have predicted the journey he would embark on over the next year.

 

His association with the English game began with a rejection. Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was approached after a game against Auxerre with an offer to take on a talented forward player.

 

He told the story to Sportsmail in 2016: ‘We had played Auxerre at home and Michel Platini came to see me. He said he had a player — a problem boy but a proper player. Cantona. I said the last thing I needed was another problem player.

 

‘I had 30-pluses that I was trying to get out so I didn't need more hassle. I said I was looking for something else. I said no thanks.’

 

After being denied the opportunity to play at Anfield, Cantona needed a move. Sheffield Wednesday were among the title contenders in 1991-92 and it was to them he next turned.

 

The story is famous, partly because it shows how Wednesday missed out. Cantona went on trial at Hillsborough, but the weather, as it often is during a Yorkshire winter, was not conducive to the Frenchman showing off his talents. He only played once for the Owls. The game took place on an indoor court.

 

Scant footage exists of the match, despite the significant interest in a player that the local Sheffield Star dubbed ‘Eric Le Brat’. All that can really be seen in newsreels from the time is Cantona slamming a ball into the glass partition.

 

‘I made a reasonable request, which I felt was to ask him to stay for this week in the hope that the weather would improve and he could train on grass,’ manager Trevor Francis explained at the time.

 

‘He rejected my request and he’s gone to Leeds, it’s a great move for him, and I wish him the very best’.

 

Francis has since claimed in an interview that he only brought Cantona on trial as a favour to agent Dennis Roach and to France manager Michel Platini, although that seems unlikely given Francis’s willingness to extend his stay.

 

But Leeds, who snapped him up in a loan deal with a view to a permanent switch, were, on paper, a strange move for Cantona. They were managed by Howard Wilkinson, commonly regarded as a merchant of direct but effective football. He was a calm soul and his Leeds side, while undisputedly one of the best teams in the country, were designed in his image.

 

It’s easy to forget though that Wilkinson liked to take a chance with a player. One of his first major signings at Leeds was Vinnie Jones, a player who could earn a booking in a church. A combination of Wilkinson’s discipline and the words of captain Gordon Strachan saw Jones pick up just three yellow cards in 1989-90 as Leeds won Division Two.

 

Maybe this was the right move for Cantona. At the time, Wilkinson said: ‘I haven’t had a problem in my football career, up to now, with any player I’ve worked with.’

 

And for slightly stranger reasons, Wilkinson thought they might get on: ‘He reads poetry, he reads philosophy, he paints, he likes fishing. Maybe that’s different. I hope he’s different out there. What he’s like off (the pitch), so long as he behaves himself, I don’t care.’

 

A local reporter even tried to throw Wilkinson and demonstrate that there might be communication issues, with Cantona speaking little English. He asked: ‘Porquoi avez-vous signe Eric Cantona? (Why did you sign Eric Cantona?)’ Wilkinson responded in slow but fluent French, joking he could understand Cantona better than Scottish stars Strachan and Gary McAllister.

 

It’s possible that Cantona may never have become the player he ended up being without the influence of Wilkinson.

 

Sure, there were kung-fu kicks to follow but there were never the repeated moments of lashing out that had punctuated his entire career before he moved to Elland Road. Did Wilkinson, who seemed more schoolmaster than football manager, manage to tame the beast?

 

Wilkinson gave Cantona confidence, even if it took time for him to make a true impact. As Cantona recalled: ‘We knew quite well that a mutual adventure would soon be bringing us together.

 

‘There would be no question of a trial period, my examination would take place on the field. 

 

‘Howard Wilkinson had been very clear with me from the first training session. He was convinced that I could rapidly impose myself on Leeds United, but he also let me understand that he didn’t want to push me too quickly.

 

‘English clubs, it is true, display a certain distrust of foreign players. Their football is made out of aerial duels, of hard running and of tackles which cannot be endured unless a player’s physical condition is almost perfect.

 

‘The British establishment also thinks that while a footballer who comes from the south of Europe may have irreproachable technical skills, they do not believe that his body will be able to stand up to the strains of northern football.’

 

It was one of the first significant overseas arrivals in England and set the country up for the influx that would come with the beginning of the Premier League the following summer.

 

Cantona made his debut for Leeds at Boundary Park against Oldham.

It was a day that should not have lived long in the memory. Wilkinson’s title challengers lost 2-0. In the second-half, the away end got their first glimpse as Cantona emerged on the touchline of one of the coldest grounds in England. He had little influence on the game after being introduced as a substitute, but there was an immediate sense of hope.

 

Few could have predicted what would come next.

 

[@owlstalk]

 

 

Trevor Francis' version (from The Yorkshire Post)

Trevor Francis has revealed the truth behind one of the most controversial transfers in Yorkshire football. Eric Cantona became a football legend by helping turn Leeds United and Manchester United into champions of England. But he was introduced to the English game by Francis in the January of 1992 during his time as Sheffield Wednesday manager. It is part of footballing folklore that Francis missed out on acquiring one of the game’s greatest players because he refused to sign Cantona before watching him play on grass. But in an exclusive interview with the Yorkshire Post, Francis finally gives his version of events.

 

It will be 20 years ago next week that Cantona helped guide Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds to the Division One title, a season which saw Francis and the Owls finish third. Cantona would go on to join Manchester United and become one of the world’s best-known players, but Francis is quick to dispute the long-held view that he ‘turned down’ the chance to sign him for Wednesday.

 

He says the Owls could never have hoped to sign Cantona and that he only took the Frenchman to Hillsborough as a personal favour to Michel Platini so that he could be put in “the shop window” for a move to England. At the time, ‘bad boy’ Cantona had retired from football after falling foul of the French authorities, but France national coach Platini wanted Cantona to pick up his fractured career in England.

 

“I don’t think it was ever reported as it should have been,” said Francis. “I was doing a favour for a former agent of mine, Dennis Roach, who took me to Italy (as a player). “He approached me with Michel Platini, who was the French coach at the time – he had already asked Graeme Souness at Liverpool and he had said no – and asked me if I would do a favour to Platini. “He was very keen to get Eric Cantona back playing. He had retired from French football and wondered if I would have a little look at him in training. “I said ‘I’m not really in need of another centre-forward, but as a favour, of course, I will do it’. It wasn’t a problem doing it for Platini, a former great as he was, who I knew from my time in Italy when I played against him at Juventus on numerous occasions.”

 

 

Cantona’s arrival in Sheffield caused something of a media circus as he trained indoors at the Sheffield Arena. “Cantona came over and I was a little surprised when he arrived here,” admitted Francis. “It was built up as if I was looking to sign Eric Cantona which was never, ever a consideration. “He was here to do a few days training, basically putting himself in the shop window. It took me by surprise the entourage he arrived with.

 

“He had his team with him, a lot of media attention surrounded him and, at the time, we were in the midst of some pretty bad Yorkshire weather. “We weren’t able to get on the grass at the training ground. We went onto an astroturf area which was made available to us and had a little kick around up there. Then the following day there was an indoor tournament at Sheffield Arena which made a lot of headlines because I asked him if he wanted to have a play in that and he had a kick around in that.

 

“After those two days, it was put to me are you going to sign him and I said: ‘Well, I don’t think so. We would like him to stay for a few more days training for him to enjoy himself and for us to have a little look at him’. “I think his manager took that as a little bit of an insult. I don’t know if it was a breakdown in translation or communication or what but they regarded it as he was Eric Cantona and he was not going to be a player on trial. “The whole thing got a little bit messy and he came to me and said ‘I have got a chance to go to Leeds’, so he had my blessing and off he went to Leeds and that’s basically it.

 

“I have never really put my side of the story, but that’s how it was, chapter and verse.” Francis would go on to build on the legacy left by Ron Atkinson, helping the Owls to both FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, and finishing third, seventh, seventh and 13th during his time at Hillsborough.

 

England internationals like Chris Waddle, Des Walker and Andy Sinton helped turn the Owls into one of the best teams of the Nineties, but at the time of Cantona’s arrival at Hillsborough, the team mainly comprised players recruited on Division Two wages. “Later on, the likes of Sinton, Walker and Waddle came to the club and the average wage increased, but at the time we had only just come in to the top league and the majority of our players were on Championship (Division Two) contracts,” recalled Francis.

 

“To even contemplate getting Cantona into our ‘little’ Sheffield Wednesday team was never really a starter, but, unfortunately, the story got kind of twisted. “There was never a realistic chance that Wednesday would sign him. It was never a consideration of mine to bring Eric Cantona to the club.

 

“It was only a phone call and a bit of a favour that I was doing for a couple of friends, Dennis Roach and Michel Platini, and the rest is history.” Cantona’s arrival at Elland Road helped the Whites go on to be crowned English champions, before a surprise £1.2m move to Old Trafford where, Francis acknowledges, he gained legendary status. “He went to Leeds and did okay,” said Francis, who is currently at home in the Midlands recovering from minor heart surgery having suffered a mild heart attack two weeks ago.

 

“I became very friendly with Howard Wilkinson in Sheffield and in the year that Leeds won the championship, Howard couldn’t find a regular place for Cantona. “I don’t think Howard was too perturbed when he received a million pounds – obviously he wasn’t otherwise he wouldn’t have let him move on to Manchester United. “The success of Eric Cantona is legendary.

 

Not so much at what he did at Sheffield Wednesday – he was only there for two days – or for that matter what he did at Leeds, yet at Manchester United he was just incredible.”


 

[@owlstalk]

Eric Cantona's account of the whole episode:

Cantona has revealed in the November edition of 'Four Four Two' magazine that the reason behind him not signing the paperwork at S6 was due to the Owls' wanting more time to decide.

'He didn't invite me for a trial. I was there for a week and I thought I was there to sign,' said Cantona.

'My lawyer was there and he spoke to try and find a way with my contract. I trained and played in a friendly game. We won 4-3. I scored 3 goals. After one week, he asked me to spend one more week on trial.

'There weren't a lot of foreigners in England then, maybe some from the north of Europe but not many from the south. Maybe they were suspicious, but I was a France international and Sheffield Wednesday wanted more time to decide about me. That was not a very good way to go about things'

The rest is history, Trevor Francis will always be the manager who failed to bring Cantona to Wednesday, and who knows, his input during that season could well have given Wednesday the extra edge to go on and win the old Division 1 title which was won, of course, by Leeds.

 

[@owlstalk]

 

Maybe we will never know the truth, but my feelings are that I believe Eric Cantona on this one.

[@owlstalk]

 

[vulva]

Looks like my memory serves me well. That Astro was as good as grass. We were just looking for an excuse. 

[@owlstalk]

 

The Frenchman’s first spell in the country came during a one-week trial at Sheffield Wednesday in January 1992, where he played just one game – a six-a-side fixture against Major Indoor Soccer League side Baltimore Blast.

 

Former Wednesday striker Danny Wilson admits that the players were expecting a more controversial figure when he joined.

 

“We’d been reading articles about him and what he did in France, but for the week we had him he was no problem at all,” Wilson told The Times.

 

Gordon Watson, a former Wednesday striker, added: “I remember we had a chat about cars once because he liked his cars,” Watson recalls. “He would say, ‘I have got a Citroen, a Renault and . . . a Rolls-Royce.’”

 

Recalling an instance where Cantona was the subject of a practical joke, whereby his cowboy boots were tied together thrown to the ceiling of the dressing room and wrapped around a light fitting, Watson adds that Cantona did not take the prank personally. “He was as good as gold,” he said.

 

Cantona’s one-week trial was ill-timed during the winter, meaning that he was restricted to playing indoors and was not able to train on grass at Hillsborough.

 

Manager Trevor Francis offered him an extended trial of another week, but Cantona refused. He joined Leeds the following month.

 

“He didn’t really want to run in behind people, so if you played that kind of ball, he would just stand there and look at you with disdain,” said Wilson, who remembers the Frenchman ordering a lunch of steak and chips midway through a double training session.

 

“I remember saying to him, ‘Woah, what are you doing? We’re training this afternoon’,” said Wilson. “He replied: ‘Well, you might be, but I’m not.'”

 

 

[vulva]

Leeds used to use Aurora quite a lot at the time as well, so they could well have had someone watching that match.

 

Once saw Sterland training for Leeds wearing a Wednesday scarf. 

[@owlstalk]

 

So Francis even contradicts his own story.

Seems each time he's asked he gives a different version.

He really annoys me - particularly on this subject

 

Anyway.... here's what I think is the definitive story from Mr Roach (who Francis says himself organised the move to SWFC for Eric)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[steveger]

Trevor Francis ruined the club my arse, you still peddling that old wives tale.....

[@owlstalk]

Just now, steveger said:

Trevor Francis ruined the club my arse, you still peddling that old wives tale.....

 

 

The facts speak for themselves

 

anyway let’s keep it on topic as this is about Cantona and not Trevor ‘dismantled a winning side’ Francis

 

[steveger]

2 cup finals, European football and a 3rd place finish then sacked for 13th place and

 

CHRIS WADDLE,

 

right about Eric the seagull chaser....we missed out BIG time , christ knows who is to blame...probably a bit of both, 2 ego's

[Guest Ash76]

Francis was a prat, he wouldn't have won us the title though as Francis would have managed t ruin it

[@owlstalk]

8 minutes ago, steveger said:

right about Eric the seagull chaser....we missed out BIG time , christ knows who is to blame...

 

Easy

Trevor 'Took Big Ron's team and turned it into a relegation side' Francis

[matthefish2002]

Think the simple reason we didn't sign Cantona was down to money.

Thought I read somewhere his wage demands would have put him comfortably Wednesday highest paid player and the club thought he wasn't worth the risk in light of his past history. Probably an incorrect one in hindsight but I suspect like Di Canio he would have only used the club as a stop gab before going somewhere else.