ERIC - A TRIBUTE

Last updated : 26 January 2005 By editor

'Opposing fans are often puzzled as to why United fans still chant Cantona's name, nearly eight years after he retired. What they don't realise is that Cantona has become more than the footballing genius who transformed a good team into a great one and inspired a new generation of young United players.

He came to embody everything that is great, and a few things that are suspect, about Manchester United.

Independent to the point of rebellion, outspoken, passionate, artistic, impulsive. If Roy Keane was the heart of United in the nineties, Cantona was undoubtedly the club's soul. He didn't care for the global commercialisation of the club, for public limited companies, image rights and branding.

His United was more about the spirit of Munich, the legacy of Law, Best and Charlton and the tradition of Busby - his United was the fans' United, and he is adored by many supporters for that reason as much as for the beauty of the football he played.

Cantona said: "I value truth, honesty, respect for one another, sincerity, compassion, and understanding. These qualities are found at Manchester United."

The Reds almost lost him in 1995, on the night of January 25, during a league game against Palace at Selhurst Park.

Cantona had never been afraid of standing up for himself. So, after reacting to the physical treatment meted out by Palace players and shown a red card for retaliating on Richard Shaw, his blood was already up.

Cantona brought a new ethos to the United training ground, and he brought a passion and a style to United's play.

More than that, he re-affirmed the faith among United fans that there was still a pulse to the club, that it had not become merely a money-making institution.

Cantona was always going to be a United legend from the day he joined the club.

And if he had not launched his own "Kick Racism Out of Football" campaign that night ten years ago, he would still be dear to the hearts of fans.

But that infamous night, and the dramatic chain of events that followed, steeped him in United's tradition of drama and delight.

The sense of injustice amongst United's players and staff lingers on - there is still a feeling that everything the team achieves is in spite of the FA, not helped when Wayne Rooney is banned for three games for raising his hands, while Chelsea's Didier Drogba escapes with a yellow card.

United have always been about tragedy and triumph, about bouncing back from adversity, and about sheer showbiz - from the Munich air crash to the 1968 European Cup win, from George Best's genius to his champagne celebrity.

Cantona had the lot, and the flying leap at Selhurst Park simply enhanced the legend.