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

[talon]

Many years ago, I was invited up on a jolly to see a L***s game by one of the clubs professional advisors (as in accountancy/legal etc).

It was a few years after Cantona had been moved on to Man U.

Anyway, it would seem that Eric had been indulging in a bit of ooh-la-la with one of the Directors wives, hence when Ferguson made the enquiry (fully expecting an immediate knockback) he was 'gobsmacked' to be told Man U could gladly have him.

Lad!

[F. Spiksley]

20 minutes ago, Buxtongent said:

is anyone bothered? It was 25 years ago!    He didn't sign End of story.

 

Well it is a classic, "woulda, coulda, shoulda..." IMHO

 

I think Cantona was right to take mild offence at TFs dithering (possibly uncertainty about our boards vision at the time) and combine that with probably a crystal clear position coming from HW a few junctions up the M1 then it's straightforward to me.

 

Should've had the contract on the table on day 1. But we didn't, and I suspect TF would've antagonised Cantona so much that he'd be the on wrong the end of Kung Fu kick-slap on the training ground!!!!

[York_Owl]

43 minutes ago, Lord Snooty said:

As for Cantona.... not sure he'd have worked anyway.

As we know from the endless hour's of footage of him at work for Man Utd he liked to play in a deeper role doing his own thing.

 

Hirsty worked far better with a forward foil who would work the channels. 

Like Rod Wallace did for L**d's or Saunders did for Villa. 

But that's another debate.

I think a Cantona / Hirst partnership could have worked in a similar way to how Beardsley and Lineker worked.  A classic 9 and 10 partnership.

[Big Ron's Sovereign]

1 hour ago, matthefish2002 said:

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.

 

He did that with Leeds, left em a title for a leaving present  

[ramone]

Just now, Lord Snooty said:

 

Trevor  had never been able to handle him.

Suspect he'd have still ended up at Old Trafford anyway.

Oh he was always going to end up at Old Trafford. And, in hindsight, what a way to spend 1.2 million. 

 

Cantona, for me, was the most influential footballer to play Premier League football. Not the best, I dont think he'd get in my top 10 or maybe even top 20. But just for being him and the presence he had on that young Utd team was frightening. 

 

He would have walked all over Tricky Trev. In a way, Fergie allowed him to walk all over him. But I think Fergie just knew that he couldn't rule with the iron fist with him like he did everyone else. He always seemed to back him and put an arm round him. Thats why Fergie is the best ever. He just knew how to handle players. 

[York_Owl]

36 minutes ago, Sova said:

Lots of ifs and buts here. As we came 3rd in that 1991-92 season, and as Leeds, who did sign Cantona, went on to win the league that season (and then, of course, Cantona went on to even greater success at Man Utd), it's tempting to wonder what would have happened had we signed him. However, a) Cantona's contribution to Leeds's success wasn't that great, and b) we would have had to have had a miraculous second half of the season to have won the league even with Cantona. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991–92_in_English_football and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991–92_Sheffield_Wednesday_F.C._season we can see that we won 43 of our 75 points that season in our 25 games prior to the end of January, and 32 in the 17 after. So in terms of points per game, we did much better afterwards anyway. Furthermore, to top Leeds we would have needed another 8 points, or 40 from the last 17 games. That equates to around 99 in a 42-game season (as opposed to 43 from 25, which equates to around 72, or 32 from 17, which equates to around 79). So Cantona's impact would have had to have been astonishing that season. 

The next question, as Lord Snooty has just pointed out, is where Cantona would have played. If we'd signed him, would we have signed Waddle? Would a team with Waddle, Sheridan, Cantona and two strikers have worked? I'm not sure it would have. 

He'd have replaced Williams up front to partner Hirst.

 

Woods

 

Nilsson

Pearson

Shirtliff

King

 

Waddle

Palmer

Sheridan

Worthington

 

Cantona

Hirst

[Lord Snooty]

Didn't need hum anyway. Not when we had our eye on Nigel Jemson...

[marconi]

Howard Wilkinson at a fans forum, said something along the lines that Nigel Worthington had tipped him off Cantona was being put up in the tiniest room of the Holiday Inn whilst staying in Sheffield.

Wilkinson paid him a visit and persuaded him to sign for Leeds.

[York_Owl]

1 minute ago, Lord Snooty said:

Didn't need hum anyway. Not when we had our eye on Nigel Jemson...

To think that we paid £800,000 for Jemson but could have signed Cantona for 1m.

 

Ironically, it was probably because we had already signed Jemson that Francis said ‘I’m not really in need of another centre-forward, but as a favour, of course, I will do it’. But then a few months later spent 1m on Mark Bright!

 

A lot of what Francis said just doesn't stack up.  Some of it must have been lies.
 

[Lord Snooty]

2 minutes ago, York_Owl said:

 

A lot of what Francis said just doesn't stack up.  Some of it must have been lies.
 

 

Let's call them 'fibs' .Doesn't sound as harsh 

[York_Owl]

3 minutes ago, Lord Snooty said:

 

Let's call them 'fibs' .Doesn't sound as harsh 

Here's one fib from the Yorkshire Post article:

 

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.

 

We had been in the top division since 1984 and had only spent one season (90-91) out of it.  The only players I can think of that we signed to play in Div 2 were Wilson and Williams and Wilson was signed from Luton who were in Div 1.  There's no way the majority of our players were on Div 2 contracts.

 

[Lord Snooty]

3 minutes ago, York_Owl said:

Here's one fib from the Yorkshire Post article:

 

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.

 

We had been in the top division since 1984 and had only spent one season (90-91) out of it.  The only players I can think of that we signed to play in Div 2 were Wilson and Williams and Wilson was signed from Luton who were in Div 1.  There's no way the majority of our players were on Div 2 contracts.

 

 

Perhaps they had relegation reductions clauses?

Not sure. 

 

I am almost 100% certain though that Nilsson and Sheridan signed extensions when we went down when they could have walked. 

I doubt they were offered less money than they were on before. 

[steveger]

1 hour ago, York_Owl said:

And won nowt.  That team had already won a trophy.  Any manager worth his salt would have gone on to win more trophies and possibly a league title with the squad he inherited. 

What have we won since ? with all our class top notch managers since ? F**k ALL, how many cup finals have we been to ? Trevor inherited a class team no doubt, but remember big fat Judas f**ked us over and left us.....

 

It's all about onions opinions 

[steveger]

Nigel Jemson was no crap player

[soldierboyblue]

22 minutes ago, York_Owl said:

Here's one fib from the Yorkshire Post article:

 

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.

 

We had been in the top division since 1984 and had only spent one season (90-91) out of it.  The only players I can think of that we signed to play in Div 2 were Wilson and Williams and Wilson was signed from Luton who were in Div 1.  There's no way the majority of our players were on Div 2 contracts.

 

Read the book Through the Modern Era and that myth about Div 2 wages is immediately put to bed.

[York_Owl]

6 minutes ago, steveger said:

What have we won since ? with all our class top notch managers since ? F**k ALL, how many cup finals have we been to ? Trevor inherited a class team no doubt, but remember big fat Judas f**ked us over and left us.....

 

It's all about onions opinions 

Who are these class top notch managers of whom you speak? 

[soldierboyblue]

5 minutes ago, steveger said:

Nigel Jemson was no crap player

He wasn't what we needed at the time that's for sure, not saying he was crap but he didn't fit the way the team played, .......hang on sounds a bit familiar.

[York_Owl]

2 minutes ago, soldierboyblue said:

Read the book Through the Modern Era and that myth about Div 2 wages is immediately put to bed.

I remember Ron Atkinson saying that the players were paid very well as well as pretty much anywhere else in the country.

[steveger]

6 minutes ago, York_Owl said:

Who are these class top notch managers of whom you speak? 

I was being sarcastic mate...

[soldierboyblue]

3 minutes ago, York_Owl said:

I remember Ron Atkinson saying that the players were paid very well as well as pretty much anywhere else in the country.

It was true he fetched the club from the frugal spending of Bert McGee's tenure which was live within your means to lets speculate to accumulate. I will caveat this with the amount of dross we signed mid to late nineties on huge wages for mediocre players was what nearly ruined our club, but the missed opportunity to sign Eric Cantona was not down to the wages on offer but the manager at the time.