Eric Cantona » Featured

Cantona calls for English cap on imports

Linus — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:44:20 +0000

Eric Cantona, arguably the most influential foreign player of the Premier League era, has warned that England will fail to make future World Cups unless a cap is placed on imports.

Cantona said: “Yes, (a cap) is important. You can have foreign players; but three, four or five.”

“You must also have good, young English players because they will play with great foreign players and improve with them.”

“They will have a chance to play with the first team and they will play to win the Premier League; big games with a lot of pressure, they will play in Europe and they will have experience of the game.”

“Now, even the small teams, they have so many foreigners. Capello would once have had hundreds of players he could choose, but now how many English players play in the Premier League?”

“If it keeps going, in 10 years time it will be very, very difficult. I’m sure England will not qualify for the European Championship or the World Cup, because you need to have players who play at the highest level so you have to be careful.”

Cantona, who was credited by Sir Alex Ferguson with inspiring and improving United’s ‘golden generation’ of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers, fears that a talent drought in the younger ranks of English football is now beginning to tell.

He said: “England have good players from the last generation, but they need to have very good young players and why don’t they have good young players?”

“You still have the old generation, like (Steven) Gerrard and these kind of players. When they were young, there were not so many foreigners.”

“Now Liverpool or Arsenal have 11 foreign players, so where are the young English players? Arsenal and Liverpool never play with English players!”

“These kind of teams need to work on young players – it’s very important for England, for the national team.”

“It’s very important for the whole national team to have young players involved in the greatest teams because they will play in very strong competitions, they will play to win the Premier League, in Europe and they will improve every time.”

Sky Sports kicks back at rivals with Eric Cantona ads

Linus — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:14 +0000

Eric Cantona will front Sky Sports new advertising campaign as it hits back against rivals BT & Virgin Media.

The “no compromise” campaign, which starts with TV advertising breaking today, features Cantona appearing to walk right through famous moments in sport such as Liverpool’s comeback to win the Champions League final against AC Milan in 2005.

“Anything can happen in sport,” says Cantona at the end of the TV ad. “The only certainty is you’ll get all of Sky Sports on Sky.”

Four billboards attempt to drive home Sky’s superiority over rivals with big pictures of Cantona and lines including “The unmissable should be just that”, “Compromise is not an option” and “What’s the point of greatness if you cannot watch it?”

Cantona: I’m Behind England

Linus — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:44:25 +0000

Eric Cantona has once again courted controversy by declaring that he will be supporting England at the World Cup in South Africa this summer, and not his native Les Bleus.

In an article in free newspaper Metro, Cantona said, “I will support England. I am half Marseilles, half English.” He also added that he wouldn’t be attending the World Cup in South Africa, but would be fully behind the English team as they strive to win their first trophy in over 40 years.

Cantona has won most of his trophies in England, and is lauded as one of the most iconic and talented players the Premier League has ever seen. He is also attributed to leading Manchester United to their glory years in the 1990s, and is so revered in Manchester they still chant his name at games.

Cantona at Football Extravaganza

Linus — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:00:45 +0000

Spotted at: Hilton Park Lane. London, England

For: Football Extravaganza 2010

Cantona at the Hilton Park Lane hotel to receive his Legend of Football Award at the annual Football Extravaganza from Sir Alex Ferguson.

Cantona Back At United

Linus — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:59:28 +0000

Spotted at: Manchester, England

For: Visiting Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United’s training ground, Carrington.

Cantona was reunited with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Monday.

The Frenchman was in town and took the opportunity to pay his old boss a visit at United’s Carrington training ground.

Cantona is new L’Oréal Paris spokesperson

Linus — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Eric Cantona has been officially unveiled as the new spokesperson for L’Oréal Paris. As part of the deal announced, he will front the Men Expert products in various countries across Europe.

Cantona said of the collaboration: “I am delighted to be working with L’Oréal Paris. It’s a brand that I admire for its desire to make effective products within everyone’s reach.”

Vianney Derville, General Manager of L’Oreal Paris International: “It ’s a great honor to welcome Eric Cantona alongside other ambassadors of the brand. Image of football, character and an artist, but especially man of charisma and a genuine character, these are the elements that convinced us to make him the perfect ambassador for L’Oreal Paris Men Expert and our line of products for men.”

Cantona will join other L’Oréal Paris ambassadors such as Beyoncé Knowles, Eva Longoria Parker, Freida Pinto and Penélope Cruz.

Cantona makes stage debut

Linus — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:45 +0000

Spotted at: Theatre Marigny just off the Champs Elysees, Paris
on Tuesday, 26 January 2010
For: stage debut of Face au Paradis (Facing Paradise).

Eric Cantona made his stage debut by playing a dying man half-buried in a collapsed building in Face au Paradis (Facing Paradise), a new two-hander play written by Nathalie Saugeon and directed by his wife Rachida Brakni.

A crowd of 320 was appreciative as shouts of “Bravo!” that came as the final curtain fell after 90 minutes of the French-language play that is all dialogue and no action.

Cantona was in no doubt that his theatre debut was somewhat of a gamble.

“My aim as a kid was to play my part in front of 80,000 people and I did it,” he told Le Monde newspaper.

“So a 400-seat theatre… If you don’t put yourself in danger, you don’t know yourself.”

Director Rachida Brakni chose the play especially to suit her husband.

“Eric is a worker, he’s not afraid by a challenge, by the theatre and the public. He has big qualities, he has a lot of talent,” she said.

“And it’s not the woman who loves him who said it, it’s the director.”

Fans were proud of the effort he put in, indicating that it was the same as he had brought on the football pitch.

“He’s brought to the theatre the same passion he brought to football,” said a thrilled Zihi Shokri, a 35-year-old hotel worker, who watched the show wearing a football jersey with the name “Cantona” emblazoned on the back.

Cantona hopes his debut stage role is the first step in a career in which he will one day play Shakespeare’s King Lear. ”But I’m still a little young for that.”

Face au Paradis (Facing Paradise) will run for the next three months in Paris.

Cantona to make stage debut

Linus — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:00:34 +0000

Eric Cantona is all set to make his theatre debut in a play directed by Rachida Brakni, his wife, whom he met on a film set in 2002. Keen for a repeat of his critically acclaimed performance in Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric, the French media have already billed the play as one of the “theatrical events” of 2010.

Cantona says he is thrilled at the prospect of performing once again in “real time” in front of a live audience. What he wanted from the theatre, he explained on prime-time television last week, was “a relationship, a real excitement, a direct relationship with people”.

“If he is apprehensive he doesn’t show it,” Brakni, 32, told the Observer. “He is someone who is inspired by a challenge. He sets the bar very high and so do I.”

For Brakni, however, who leapt on the play after having searched for a part that would suit her husband, the risk is a meticulously calculated one. “I wanted to find him a part that would measure up to his talents,” she said. “Eric is a very demanding person. He is someone of great rigour, great discipline and great talent.”

Face au paradis (Faced with Paradise) is an untested contemporary play written by Nathalie Saugeon and will open on 26 January 2010 at the Théâtre Marigny on the Champs-Elysées.

Cantona presents award to Loach

Linus — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:47 +0000

Spotted at: Essen, Germany
on Friday, 11 December
For: a film gala in honour of Ken Loach, recipient of the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Loach wants Cantona at Bath City

Linus — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:00:58 +0000

Director of Looking For Eric, & Bath City fan, Ken Loach is hoping to tempt Eric Cantona out of retirement and star for Bath City if they make it through to the 3rd round of the FA Cup for the first time in 15 years.

Loach is the award-winning director behind the recent cinema smash hit Looking for Eric, in which Cantona played himself.

Cantona, 43, who retired from playing to become an actor hours after leading United to the 1997 Premier League title, sent the Blue Square South minnows a ‘good luck’ message before their shock first-round win over Grimsby.

Loach added that a dream draw for Bath would be to play Manchester United, he said: “If I were writing Bath’s Cup run for a film, the story would be us getting to the third round and then drawing Manchester United away.

“I would get Eric out of retirement and he would score the winning goal in front of the Stretford End, wearing our black and white shirt.

“When filming with Eric, I spoke to him a lot about Bath.

“I asked if he would come and do a Q and A evening to raise some money for the club and he obliged.

“He came down, posed with a Bath shirt on and spent a couple of hours chatting to supporters.

“I think a few people were surprised at how charming he was, far removed from the pictures they had seen of him snarling away and kicking that Crystal Palace supporter in the chest.

“I think Eric found the whole experience very liberating and took away some great memories.

“I spoke to him before the Grimsby game and he wished us luck, which was a nice boost for the players.”