Marmite footballers: #1 Eric Cantona

You either love 'em or hate 'em, you know? There are some footballers that have divided opinions ever since they first pulled on a shirt.

Usually the ones with the most interesting careers, 'marmite footballers' fascinate us. Jamie Hodge takes a look at some of the best.

#1 Eric Cantona:

We Kung-Fu kick-off our marmite footballers series with none other than le Roi, Manchester United legend Eric Cantona.

Nobody could doubt the Frenchman’s ability during his playing days, however King Eric was a man whose career was often in the spotlight for not always the right reasons.

Eric’s early days

Cantona to this day is still one of Manchester United’s greatest players and arguably the most influential of the Premier League era.

He began his professional football career with Auxerre, before joining his hometown team Marseille in 1988, but failed to tie down a regular place in the side and was sent out on loan to numerous French teams, before eventually joining Nimes on a permanent deal.

The fireworks started at Nimes: Cantona was banned for a month after throwing a ball at a referee, however at the subsequent hearing when Eric started to swear at the committee in charge of his punishment, his suspension was then doubled, which lead to Cantona announcing he was to quit Nimes and retire at the age of 25.

Cantona was eventually persuaded to return from retirement and ended up signing for Leeds United for the then lofty sum of £900,000. The tenacious forward found English football more suited to his playing style and soon helped Leeds win the final First division title – the last championship before the Premier League’s creation in 1992.

From Leeds to United

Despite a decent return of 11 goals in 20 games in Cantona’s second season for the whites, Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson was still critical of the Frenchman’s work ethic and attitude.

In the end after a phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson who jokingly inquired about Eric Cantona’s availability, the striker joined the Red Devils in a 1.2 million pound deal, sparking an expected furious reaction amongst the Leeds United supporters.

History maker

This is where ‘King Eric’s’ career took flight as Cantona inspired United to become the dominant team of the 1990’s and beyond.

United won four Premier League titles and two FA Cups, as Cantona bagged an impressive 25 goals in 49 games.

Not only that, but Cantona also picked up a number of individual awards during this era, including the PFA Players Player of the Year in 1994 and the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1995-96.

Personal accolades aside, it was not all plain sailing with the fiery Frenchman.

Kung-Fu Eric

Rewind to the 1994-95 season and you’ll remember Manchester United were locked in a fierce battle with Blackburn Rovers for the league title.

Enter Eric Cantona, with one of the most infamous moments in footballing history.

As he was on his way to the tunnel, Cantona reacted to a Crystal Palace fan goading the striker and in a moment of complete madness he flew into the crowd with a kung-fu style kick to the fan before finishing the move off by punching him.

If it wasn’t for one of the Manchester United coaching staff wrestling Eric off the fan and down the tunnel, we’re not sure where he’d of stopped.

Cantona was hit with a lengthy eight-month ban and arrested for assault for his actions. He was to never play for the national side again and eventually asked United to cancel his contract.

The world was greeted to one of the weirder moments in football history, when self-proclaimed lover of the arts Cantona, took to the stage in a press conference and recited a line of poetry, instead of the expected apology.

Despite this bizarreness, then manager Alex Ferguson was willing to look past Cantona’s antics and persuaded him to stay.

His return was triumphant – Cantona won two successive league titles before hanging up his boots (and boxing gloves) for good at the early age of just 30, citing a desire to go out at the top.

Love him or Hate Him?

A controversial character, but a bloody good player. Loved by United fans, hated by others. I’ll leave this one to you to decide…