Eric Cantona has hit out at Manchester United’s owners and the atmosphere at Old Trafford, saying he’d prefer to support a lower league team.
The Frenchman stays a legend on the club, having won 4 Premier League titles and two FA Cups with the Red Devils.
The 59-year-old stays obsessed with Manchester United, but is increasingly frustrated with the direction of the club.
Cantona says he offered to come back back to Manchester and help the club’s rebuilding process under minority owner Jim Ratcliffe and manager Ruben Amorim.
The offer was not taken up and Cantona feels the present ownership has gone further in destroying the legacy of the person he played under, Alex Ferguson.
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The long-lasting forward said at a live show, via The Telegraph: ‘I even have many other passions and projects, but I believed that for 2 or three years I could possibly put those to the side and check out to provide something to this club, which has given every part to me. But he didn’t seem interested.
‘I did what I needed to do, so I don’t feel guilty anymore. I attempted my best. Sir Alex Ferguson created a type of beautiful attacking football, which the brand new owners must have used. As a substitute, they destroyed it.’
This shouldn’t be the primary time Cantona has spoken out against the present ownership, having criticised the substantial amount of job cuts on the club since Ratcliffe bought in.
‘I support United because I actually love United, but now if I used to be a fan and I had to decide on a club I don’t think I might select United,’ Cantona said earlier this 12 months. Because I don’t feel close to those kind of choices. They’ve one other strategy, one other project. Do you’re feeling near this project? I don’t think so.
‘For me, it is extremely necessary to respect these people such as you respect your manager and your team-mates. I believe since Ratcliffe arrived it’s the exact opposite and, this team of directors, they struggle to destroy every part and so they don’t respect anybody. They even want to vary the stadium.’
The previous striker has also hit out on the fan experience at Old Trafford, saying there may be a quiet atmosphere led to by ‘individuals who come from different parts of the world simply to go to the merchandise store.’
‘The atmosphere within the stadium is different, unfortunately,’ he said. ‘I went to Old Trafford last season for the sport against Manchester City, and I believed it was quiet. United fans prefer to go to away matches, to be with the true fans, than to be surrounded by individuals who come from different parts of the world simply to go to the merchandise store.
‘We now have to be closer to the true things of football, to the working people. Football is a working-class game – it’s necessary we don’t lose that. If I lived in England, I would favor to be a fan of a club within the third or fourth division.
‘I don’t find the energy that we had prior to now. It’s not the fault of the fans, it’s the fault of the people who find themselves answerable for the clubs – the financial system.’
Cantona surprisingly retired in 1997 at just 30 years old but players who join the club in 2025 are still hoping to emulate him.
Summer signing Matheus Cunha told The Sun of comparisons to the Frenchman: ‘Wow, what a player. I would like to do rather more things to be in comparison with him. When someone says something like this to me, I attempt to see the great a part of this.
‘To be someone who has loads of passion to play for this club, to play football – after which attempt to represent everyone inside the pitch.
‘I feel privileged to be related to these sort of things and with Cantona also. He made history. And if I can do a bit of percentage of what he did already, I’ll be very glad after which try to construct my technique to the fellows to recollect me also.’
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