Eric Cantona: CUNT!!!!1111!!! ?

jasonrh

Obviously not.

But why? Its sort of stupid, but follow me here and you'll see a sort of weird similarity with something that we're going through now...

Cristiano Ronaldo may very well be about to suddenly leave us in the lurch with a shock departure when we were in no way prepared for him to leave a squad that was built around him.

Eric Cantona suddenly left us in the lurch with a shock departure when were were in no way prepared for him to leave a squad that was built around him.

Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut in the first game of the 2003/04 season. He was signed earlier than Ferguson initially planned by sheer chance after the players asked for him to be signed during preseason. The deal was as good as done when they got on the plane.

Eric Cantona didn't make his debut until nearly halfway through the 1992/93 season. He was signed partway through the season by sheer chance. The deal was as good as done in a phone call.

Cristiano Ronaldo has never had a major injury, although he did miss a half-dozen games via three red card suspensions and missed a month due to participation in the Olympics. After an incident at the World Cup in 2006 he allegedly had to be convinced by Ferguson to stay in England.

Eric Cantona missed a whopping 32 consecutive matches after the Kung Fu Kick Incident, on top of five other red card suspensions. He allegedly had to be convinced by Ferguson to stay in England after the Kung Fu Kick.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been a United player for 5 seasons. As a winger, he has currently played 239 (43 of those as a sub), scoring 92 goals. That's a goal every 2.597 games, but with so many of those being sub appearances that is a misleading number.

Eric Cantona was a United player for just over 4 and a half seasons. As a striker, he played 185 games (only 1 as a sub) with 82 goals. That is a goal every 2.256 games, but again his average 'game' would be longer than Ronaldo's since only his first match was as a sub.


There are some frightening similarities there. Yet Cantona is still worshipped.

Of course the difference is the feeling of betrayal at Ronaldo's actions in the last 30 days and his not retiring, but his trying to move to another club as if there is somehow a 'bigger' club than United.

But you must admit there is some spooky stuff there, and actually when you look at it there is an odd argument that Cantona was less of a servant of the club than some make out ( considering what he did to morale and our mindset - football isn't at all numbers).

Just playing devil's advocate and ruminating over random nonsense crap at 11:19PM.

Brad

Has anybody ever quite so clearly missed the point than this?!

Unbelievable Jason, un-be-liev-able

I hate to be the one to point out the difference between retiring from professional football, and engineering a move to European rivals with 4 years left on your contract aged 23, conducted in the full media spotlight drawn over over several months... for a start

jasonrh

I absolutely knew you'd say exactly 100% what you just said.

Can you help me to bed, Miltie?

I'm having a lot of trouble with the legs and J is already sound asleep.

RedPony

wtf is this insanity

Brad

I assume you also knew you just posted a load of bullshit then, 'devils advocate' or not

I've got footy in the morrow, don't want to put my back out, so its a no can do on the bed front. Am off to mine though, night

Nistelrooy10

jasonrh

Yeah, it was a load of tripe, as I said in the thread.

It just struck me about the 5 year thing and where Ronaldego must be thinking he's so loyal and wonderful from (aside from the fact that the voice in the mirror tells him so).

He hears you sing Cantona's name, then some arsehole looking for a fee could take Cantona and spin it just like I have and Ronaldo might actually come out of it thinking he is some sort of hero.

Which would be really sad and an example of how tenuous of a grip on reality the average celebrity has.

What if we did some sort of a pulley system?

Forklift?

Buttsecks?

PeteReDevil

You do know Cantona stopped because his hunger wasn't there anymore, right? He also knew he wouldn't be as good as he had been.

Cold_Boy

Typical Jason.

bcubed

The difference is that Ronaldo is a legend in his mind, whereas Eric is a legend in ours.



Oh, and Eric retired because he was sick of all the commercial bullshit and too many cunts making money off of his name.

Dannyboy

Brad is spot on .

If he leaves then there's is not much we can do about it, we are not a one man team like other cunts will have you believe. Players will step up if he leaves the core of United is immense even without Ronaldo. We have a lot to look forward to.

devilish

Cantona was on the decline when he left. He knew that and he also knew that SAF would have sticked to him no matter what happened, something, that would have hindered the club. I prefer Cantona's behavior to that of Roy Keane who stayed at the club despite knowing that he knew that he was finished.

Ronaldo's story is different. He is 23 and he is considered as the best player in the world. There is nothing noble in what he is doing.

holyland red

Jason, I think it's time to call this gentleman

Denis' cuff

frankly, I don't think there was much nobility in what Eric did. He would've still been a valuable member of the squad but took that option away from us.

also, load of bollox about the "commercial" stuff. He just wanted more money. No different from most other players.

Not comparing the two - totally different but let's have less of the "noble" crap. As much as I loved Eric, he did have some ego on him. Apart from several red cards, some of which were overly harsh, he didn't let his ego get in the way of his contribution to the team.

holyland red

BTW, Ronaldo isn't a cunt for wanting to go to Madrid. The FACT is that he always has been an arrogant, cheating, double-faced cunt but people have conveniently tried to ignore that side of him because his brilliance on the pitch.

Johnno

I think at 31, he still had plenty to offer however he did state he didn't enjoy playing football anymore, although several testimonials and beach soccer suggests this was short-lived.
Eric could have fled England ater 1995, but he stayed and produced an immaculate set of performances upon his return from the ban.
He could have ideally gone to Spain/Italy for a swansong, or more money as you suggest, but he didn't, he was true to his word and retired.

Denis' cuff

hmmmmm.........gonna watch Euro highlights

You've got Setanta haven't you?

Johnno

I do mate, it's been very beneficial with the Euros on, aside from that, it's okay, I do watch the morning news show with the pop-up things and that, makes me feel like I'm having breakfast in Manchester again....at 7pm at night.

devilish

Do you think that SAF would have placed Cantona on the bench? FFS he sticked to Keane even though he couldnt barely run anymore let alone the French legend. Cantona did what was right. He left the team when he was on decline knowing that he couldnt carry us anymore. His decision was brilliant because 2 years later we won the treble.

The commercial stuff is just rubbish. If Cantona wanted money then he should have gone to Inter where he would have been showered with gold but he refused to go there. Let us not forget that at that time Manchester United where still paying their players with peanuts. In fact Batistuta had refused in signing with us because of that. It was after Keano had refused to sign his contract that we went at par with other European clubs.

TR

I suggest people don't unless they want to end up in the same loony bin.

bcubed

I do believe Eric was a bit of a cunt, but he was "our cunt" . IMHO what he did was noble, he voted with his feet.

Money probably was at the root of it, and in the new age of players getting their image rights, he was proved to be correct.

What he didn't do was go whoreing himself to the highest bidder, dragging the club through shite.

Denis' cuff

fair enough - but still think "noble" is over-egging it and because players may/may not be getting their image rights now, doesn't make anything correct. Regarding the last point, he wasn't really in a position to do that. I'm not remotely suggesting he would've done - just that some get a bit carried away with his every utterance. When all said and done though, he was and is a "legend"

Cornell

Jason has officially lost his marbles.

robthered

FFS the only similarity between Cantona and Ronaldo is that they have both worn 7 for United.

Sarni

Trying to make Ronaldo look like a legend and a marvellous servant and persuading people that his inevitable move to Madrid does not matter is evidently not going to work. Not now, not ever. I think that once Ronaldo is gone, defending him will be pointless because people will have no respect for him as a person, given the way he has been engineering his move.

R.Nilsson7

This is possibly the worst thread ever on the internet.

bcubed

I never initiated the "noble" quote (though he is Eric the King! ).

Not saying it's right about the image rights, in fact "players rights" are getting to be a tad overpowering. The fact that contracts aren't worth a wank, the tail is starting to wag the dog, all paid for by the loyalty of decent hard working fans. All gonna end in tears I fear vis a vis Italy.

Tibs

Sack Fergie, Sell Ronaldo.

Hire Guus, Sign Arshavin

Denis' cuff

you didn't


agree

Mickeyredlad