Eric Cantona » Interviews

Cantona Interview with The New Paper

Linus — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:00:40 +0000

Eric Cantona had an interview with The New Paper’s Sports Editor S. Murali while he was in Singapore. Here are excerpts from that interview.

Is the English Premier League (EPL) the best in the world? Especially with the Spanish teams like Barcelona playing so well?
There are so many great leagues in the world. The German league, the Italian league, the Spanish league, Brazil, Argentina, a few countries.

But if you were to pick one, would it be the EPL?
Yes, I think so. They have the best players, the way they play, the atmosphere. Everything makes this league special.

What about Barcelona? They are playing special football right now?
Yes, Barcelona are a great team, but they are a great team like United.

So Barcelona are not the best?
Yes, they are a great team but United are a great team too. There are a few teams that are equal. What makes the difference sometimes may be a player.

But what makes Barcelona great is that there are seven or eight players who come from the academy. And they were in the national team that won the World Cup.

And all of that is because (Johann) Cryuff and the experience he had in Ajax.

When he came to Barcelona in the early 1990s as a manager, Barcelona were one of the richest clubs in the world but never worked on their young players. And he started that.

He had his first success with young players after that so now it’s like a heritage, you know? (Pep) Guardiola was a player when Cryuff was manager and he works now with young players with their own view on football, so they create something.

Very few clubs work with young players in the way he works with young players.

Coming to that, who do you think is the best player in the world now? Do you think it is Lionel Messi?
I don’t like to speak about one player. If you speak about teams, it’s okay.

But do you enjoy watching Messi play?
I enjoy watching great players. Yeah.

Rooney recently hit a player on the head but didn’t get punished. With the wisdom you have gained over the years, what would you tell a young player. Express yourself or control your actions?
YOU have to control yourself most of the time. We have to be in control. Sometimes you have a bad day, a bad moon, you know, something can happen.

But the most important thing is to have this type of player to make the team successful, like Rooney has.

Are you amazed that your former teammate Ryan Giggs is still playing top-level football?
I admire him. So long. When I arrived at United he was already there. He used to drive me to training because we lived in the same area.

He is a great player and faithful to his club. I don’t know how he still finds the motivation, you know?

I admire this kind of player like (Paolo) Maldini when he was in AC Milan, who played for the same club for 20 years.

Maybe it’s because clubs like United, Milan and Barcelona are special. Xavi has been playing for Barcelona for 15 years.

So in that sense, do you sometimes feel that you retired too soon?
No, because I had the chance to do something else. It’s good to have different passions. To love different passions. To have the opportunity to do different things.

Is there a player out there who plays like Cantona?
No, weare all unique. Different personalities. To be successful, to play at the highest level, you need to have a strong personality. So they are all different.

Speaking of strong personalities, how important do you think it is for a player to have a strong persona? You were bigger than the game, with your upturned collar and your personality. But what about someone like Paul Scholes? Do you think he would have got greater recognition as a great player had he been louder or less quiet?
It’s just different personalities. It does not mean one is stronger than the other.

But Scholes doesn’t get the same recognition as a great player.
I think he gets the recognition.

You think so?
Yeah, yeah, you say he is a great player and I say he is a great player. Ferguson helps players develop their own personalities. And that is Scholes’ personality. And he has a strong personality. He is quiet, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not strong.

What is the one great quality that every footballer needs? What is the one thing you see in all great footballers?
Anticipation. The quicker you think, the better you are.

You can see it at the games at the highest level. They play very simple, one touch, pass, movement.

The more you go down, in terms of level, the more they need to control the ball, hold the ball, keep the ball, touch it many times. It’s because they don’t have the same sort of anticipation.

If I receive the ball and I know where I am going, before I receive the ball around me there is movement, so I just have to be skilful and to give a good pass.

Cantona Interview with ESPN

Linus — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:00:28 +0000

No related posts.

Cantona Refuses to Rule Out Manchester United Return

Linus — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:13:13 +0000

Eric Cantona made a surprise return with the New York Cosmos in January, after more than 14 years out of the game. The dying question undoubtedly by Manchester United fans around the World were – would he one day return to Manchester United as manager?

He spoke at great length about his admiration for Sir Alex Ferguson, and undoubtedly the passion for the club and the fans who made him their KING still runs deep within.

“He is one of the greatest of all time all around the world. For more than 20 years he has stayed at the same club with different generations of players.

“I admire him. He is a great psychologist. he adapts himself to all generations of players. He is a kind of genius.

“I learned from him, but now I am a free bird with my own wings. Now I am involved with New York Cosmos.

He refused to rule out a return though, when asked whether he would make a return to Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson eventually retires.

“But we will see in the future.”

Cantona Interview with BBC

Linus — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:22 +0000

Eric Cantona spoke to the BBC’s Dan Walker on Football Focus.

As well as talking about his new role with the New York Cosmos, Cantona touches on that infamous night at Selhurst Park.

The extended 10-minute interview can be seen in Football Focus on Saturday from 1215 on BBC One, so be sure not to miss it.

As promised by EricCantona.com, here are some excerpts from that interview!

Cantona talks about why he lashed out at Matthew Simmons, who still draws the ire of Cantona fans all over the World.

“When I did the kung-fu on the hooligan,” he said, “I did it because these kind of people don’t have to be in the game.

“I think maybe it’s like a dream for some people – to kick these kinds of people. So I did it for them. So then they are happy.

“It’s a kind of freedom for them. So I speak about that. Maybe they felt it. Something special, physically.”

Cantona conceded it was a mistake to allow his feelings to take control, resulting in an 8 month ban from football, but he added:

“I’ve seen so many players scoring goals. They know this kind of feeling, but this one? A player jump and kick a hooligan? It’s not the kind of thing you see every day.

“But, that’s life. That’s me. You take it or not. I’m strong enough to come back.”

Cantona also confessed that he does not know where any of his football medals are.

“I don’t care about the past. It was great but I don’t want to think about it. I want to look forward,” he said.

“I don’t know where my medals are. Nothing. No shirt. Nothing.

“I played for France 45 times. We got two shirts for every game, so that’s 90. I don’t have even one.

“You can feel very quickly a prisoner of your past. Of your memories. I prefer to be free and think about tomorrow.”

Finally, on the dying question every Manchester United fan wants to know about whether he would return to Manchester United.

“He is one of the greatest of all time all around the world. For more than 20 years he has stayed at the same club with different generations of players.

“I admire him. He is a great psychologist. he adapts himself to all generations of players. He is a kind of genius.

“I learned from him, but now I am a free bird with my own wings. Now I am involved with New York Cosmos.

“But we will see in the future.”

Cantona Interview: New York Cosmos, ‘Gandhi’ Ferguson and more

Linus — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:50:10 +0000

Were there aspects of your professional football career that prepared you for your life as an actor?
I’ve always wanted to act. On the pitch, it’s a kind of acting. First you learn to walk, then you find your spontaneity.

You were very theatrical on the field in so many ways. Is it something oh so French?
Was it theater? Yes. Old Trafford is the Theater of Dream. Sometimes people ask me different questions about players and acting. I started to think about it and there is a lot and found a lot of similarities. It’s not just a game, you play on the set, the pitch. I’ve always wanted to play and see beautiful football, but winning was always very important.

Who are your favorite directors?
[Jean-Luc] Godard is one. Fabulous. Today, Jérôme Bonnell, who is not very well known, even in France. He’s very good. His films are very special. I’ve never worked with him, but admire his films.

You were the star, the alter ego in the recent film “Looking for Eric.” It looked like a perfect role for you.
I wanted to do the movie and [director] Ken Loach was on our list. I met with him and he was very happy with the possibility to work on the same story. If you ask 100 directors you will get 100 different films. But our ideas were very close with Ken Loach. I was very happy with the film. I got to meet all these people and, of course, he was a wonderful director. It was most important to work with great people. There was humility and humanity.

What do you think the biggest change in the game has been since you last played for Manchester United?
Many things have changed, that’s expected. I think that TV is involved more and more. With the sponsors, there’s more and more money. The players are in the middle, and they take their part.

I think there is talk of this every time. In my time, people said players earned too much money. But me, when I was a child, I just dreamed of playing, being the best player and playing for the best team. I became very rich through football. I’ve got my memories of great moments with great clubs.

What were some of your greatest moments in the game?
They were all with United. With United, I played my best level, when I was between 26 and 30. I spent my best years at Manchester United with some of the world’s greatest players. [Alex] Ferguson is one of the best managers of all time. I was very lucky. And it was the type of game that United played, yes, winning, but it was something I enjoyed.

For me, the greatest moment was when we won the double [the Premier League and F.A. Cup titles in 1995-96] with a new generation of young players

You were among the first wave of players from outside Britain to star in the Premier League. Was it a challenge?
Well, for example, when I first went to England I spent a week on trial with Sheffield Wednesday. I thought I was there to sign a contract, but after a week on trial with Wednesday they asked me to stay for one more week. I mean, I had already played for France, how can you imagine playing for France and having to stay on trial with Wednesday? In this time, no one knows French players and no one cared. I don’t think that people realize how it was in that time for a foreigner in England.

English football at the time thought it didn’t need foreign players. It was a kind of arrogance. The worst thing is to one day realize that maybe you need foreign players to succeed. Now I think there are too many, it’s the opposite. Too many foreign players in the clubs, and I think the clubs should work for the national team. With me and the Cosmos, we work hard with the academies working for the club and for the national team.

I’ve seen some stories that said you are staying away from Manchester United until the Glazers are no longer the owners. Is that true?
All I will say is that I think Ferugson will stay as the manager, after that, there will be more problems. Today, he is like Gandhi on the game side.

Are there any entertainers in the game today who have your attention?
I don’t want to sound like an old man. In every generation, you have players you think are the best players with a strong personality. If you have that strong personality you are an entertainer, but now, with different attitudes. But somebody quiet can be charismatic and can be an entertainer, like [Lionel] Messi.

Which players and which teams do you like to watch now?
I prefer to say Barcelona and Manchester United. As teams, they are entertaining.

With Manchester, I prefer to say, to think, to realize that Ferguson is a kind of genius. He had so many different generations of players now. He’s 70 and works with players 18 years old but adapts himself to all generations. This one is especially different. With [Dimitar] Berbatov, he worked hard and waited because he knew he had a great player.

Ferguson takes strong personalities and works with them psychologically. It is very important. It worked for me, 100 percent. It was for the team. I accepted everything because he gave me freedom on the pitch. He gave me the No. 7 shirt and it became important to me though I might not have realized its importance in the beginning. I never felt the pressure. He had a kind of confidence in me to give me the No. 7. It was an honor.

Other than playing in the Beach Soccer World Cup, you have basically been out of the game for the last 14, 15 years. How did you get interested in joining this Cosmos project?
Around Christmastime, the club called my brother, who works with me, and explained they wanted me to be part of their project. I knew the story of the club. It is very important for me. I didn’t want to go if the idea for the club is different from what it was. I liked the project. I have a strong image of this club, that it was something special in football that was a mixture of everything.

I like this idea of player development here and I think there are many, many players now in the U.S. I’m sure that before 20 years the U.S. will win the World Cup because players like Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé came here. Young players started to look after them and became interested in the sport and started to play soccer. I don’t think they get enough credit for the great job for development of the sport they did here. I think the Cosmos helped people realize that football could be an art form.

You truly believe the U.S. will win the World Cup within 20 years?
Yes. I am sure. The U.S. wins the World Cup and the Cosmos will do a great job in the academies and give the national team its best players. We already have good players in the academy, I’ve seen kids 8, 9 years old that are great. There are 18 million kids playing soccer in the U.S.

The U.S. played very, very well in the World Cup in South Africa. They are not ready to win a World Cup now, but I think they have improved every time. Now they are quicker and better skilled than in previous years. And yes, I believe they will win the World Cup.
Q.

You are among a number of players who, like George Best, never got to represent their country in the World Cup. Is that a source of disappointment for you?
I achieved a lot of things in my career and I cannot think about the disappointments. I prefer to think about the good things and I had a lot. When I started to play, I wanted to win everything, but then you realize you cannot. What is most important is to try and win and play your best game every time. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you don’t give 100 percent. Sometimes you’re lucky. Sometimes not. Luck is important.

What does this job with the Cosmos mean to you?
It’s about creating something. I have my own vision of the game and will try to bring it here and win. Ajax in the ’70s created something. [Johan] Cryuff at Barcelona created something, a new revolution. The Cosmos can create something, too, that’s never been seen. Every 20, 30 years there is a new movement. You have to look to history and take inspiration from things and use them to create your own future. I came here with this kind of idea.

It is about the style of coaching and young players. We want to be successful and to do that you need to be physical, technical and the best mentally. To have tactics that nobody can understand. It took so many years for people to understand Cruyff at Barcelona because the first season he got there he didn’t use an attacking player up front. There were people on the wings up front and up until then he was the only one in history to do that.

He played to his style and made the other teams adapt. It means you control the game.

You are coming here with those ideas in mind, but how much do you know about M.L.S. and the way it works? And does any lack of knowledge worry you? Of course, this is all assuming that the Cosmos end up with a team in the league.

Yes, I don’t know M.L.S. very well, but I have Cobi [Jones] with the Cosmos and he’s a resource. I want to learn more about the league and will work very hard, watching games, tapes. And I think I will know very well and quickly. I realize I need to learn things.

I think he was surprised by the player I was and became because no one knew what to expect from me. It’s better to surprise. Otherwise it becomes boring.

BBC Interview with Cantona about New York Cosmos

Linus — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:05:13 +0000

The BBC spoke to Eric Cantona after he joined the New York Cosmos. Here are excerpts from that interview.

So Eric, thanks for speaking on this. Just a few questions about you and Cosmos. Firstly, it’s been said that the team will be launched in 2013, isn’t that a long way off?
The conception was beautiful, a thing of passion and purpose and now we must enter the pregnancy before we can give birth to the child that will be Cosmos. As you will know, the gestation period for a human is 9 months but with Cosmos the birth will not be until 2013. A long hard pregnancy maybe but an African Elephant has a gestation period of nearly two years and the result is the most impressive animal on the savannah.

Ok, you’ve said that Cosmos will be a mixture of football and art, can you explain this further?
A man has to ask himself ‘Can there be a mixture of football and art?’ as football IS art and therefore from a narrow perspective maybe art IS football. It is not something I can explain for you but something that you have to find the answers for within.

Right, any ideas though how we may see art on the football pitch?
For example, should one of our players be unhappy at the decision of a match referee and feel the need to protest then we will not tolerate any obscenities or barracking. Instead he and his teammates must display their grievance through the medium of mime.

How do you think Manchester United supporters will feel about your involvement with a new club?
If you have one child, you love them. If you have two children, do you love them each less? As my boat sails forth on this adventure, well stocked with sardines, it will never replace my feelings for Manchester United, just expand my soul to feel more.

Does this mark the end of your acting career?
Acting cannot be restricted by a career, this is a misconception. Acting is all around us, for example if I told you your tie was nice would I be lying just to pay you a compliment? No, I joke as your tie is nice. Or is it? You see you are now not aware of my true opinions on your tie as I have acted one way or another.

The team does not have a stadium or any players or even a license to play in Major League Soccer, do these not seem like big hurdles?
If you were a hurdler and beginning a race and the hurdles seemed too big and fearsome then you would not soar over them. I now have my feet in the blocks ready to start, if I clip a hurdle then I will not fall but continue and at the line I will bow my head to be sure of victory. I await the fire of the starting gun and I will be the first one out.

What if you make a false start?
What has that to do with anything? We are talking about building a football club, if you’re going to go off track we’ll leave it there.

Eric Cantona parle de la Révolution

Linus — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:56:00 +0000

No related posts.

Steve Evets: Men & Women Love Cantona

Linus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:09 +0000

Eric Cantona’s co-star in the movie Looking for Eric, Steve Evets explains the appeal of the enigmatic Frenchman.

“Women love him,” he ponders. “And blokes love him.”

“If you caught him sh***ing your wife you’d ask if she was up to scratch.”

The actor also added that being on the camera with the famous footballer under the direction of Ken Loach was like being in a “legend sandwich”.

Steve also revealed that he had no idea Cantona was in the movie until he shot their first scene together.

Watch an interview with the director Ken Loach, Steve Evets and The King himself @The Sun.

Cantona on Looking For Eric

Linus — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:00:18 +0000

Digital Spy recently interviewed Looking For Eric director, Ken Loach & Cantona. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

Eric, what was it about Ken that made you want to work with him?
Eric: “It was my two brothers, Jean-Marie and Joel, who wrote two pages of a story. They wanted to make a movie and we went to a French production company called Why Not, and the first name we put on the list was Ken Loach. It was a dream for all of us, but we tried and we met Ken, Paul [Laverty, screenwriter] and Rebecca O’Brien [producer] and they read the two pages and they said it was very inspired and with that we can do something. Paul had the freedom to write his own story which was better than the one we showed him.”

Eric, you also reveal a talent for playing the trumpet in this film.
Eric: “Well, when I was banned [from playing football] for nine months I needed to focus on something else. I admire a lot Miles Davis and Chet Baker, and I like the sentiment, so I tried it. I practised for a few months and I stopped after. And then, when I spent time with Paul, speaking about different things, about life, he said, ‘I don’t know how, but it will be in the script.’ So, just before shooting I started again, just for a few days. I tried my best.”

Do you also see yourself as a bit of a philosopher? When you were banned you made that famous comment about seagulls following the trawler…
Eric: “I’m not a philosopher… No. Everyone tries to analyse what I said at the press conference about the seagulls, but I didn’t want to give sense. I just wanted to put [across] the words. I think anybody can find sense in any situation; the meaning was not in the words, the meaning was just that I came in front of you and said something that means nothing. It’s because they tried to make the situation very serious and I think, in life, there are plenty of serious things, but I don’t think the world of football it’s so serious. It’s important to have distance from things about yourself. If we believe we are king or God we become crazy. Football is a game we all enjoy together because we all know it’s just a game.”