DIEU

Last updated : 01 July 2003 By Editor
In an interview in French cultural magazine Les
Inrockuptibles, he talks about a possible return to
football:

“It will be a team like Manchester. I have a certain idea on
the game and I will only become a coach if I can bring my
vision, if I feel that the game can evolve.

“Obviously, it would be revolutionary, even though I can
mess up big time. To do it I need great players and great
players are in a club like Manchester.”

Looking back at his career, he gave his reasons for leaving
United:

“I left Manchester because I had lost my passion for the
game, because I did not master the merchandising side.
Because I did not want to become a product. At one stage,
what mattered was the Cantona product, the profit. And then
I had to go.”

Eric has no regrets about missing the 1998 World Cup Finals:

“I would have liked to play it. But my non-selection was
obviously linked to my personality. You could give me win 10
World Cups but it would not make me happy if it meant
contradicting myself.

“I'm not proud to be French. By contrast, when we played the
Cup final with Manchester, I cried when I heard a national
anthem. It was not the French anthem but God Save the Queen.
Sung by a whole crowd, it's heartbreaking.”

However he does still have a soft spot for Olympique
Marseille:

“In the clash between heart and reason, heart wins. In spite
of everything that happened, when I hear that Marseille have
lost, it moves me to tears while everything I hate about
sport is there.”