49. Eric Cantona

Signed from: Leeds United (£1,200,000), November 1992
Debut: 2-1 win vs Manchester City (as sub), December 6th 1992
League Record: 142 games (+1 as sub), 64 goals
Sold to: Retired, summer of 1997

The beginning of time, for this fan. Recently, one Red Issue columnist commented on one of our current players praying before kick off by saying "there’s only one God round here, and his name is Eric". Damn right. 

It’s strange to think that in early 1992, Eric Cantona was almost washed up. Though a French international, his temper had alienated him from several clubs in his homeland. Insulted by Sheffield Wednesday manager Trevor Francis’ request for a “trial”, he instead went to Leeds United, playing a minor (though subsequently exaggerated) role in their 1992 title win. 

The Yorkshire fans took to Eric quickly – perhaps enjoying a bit of exotic flair alongside the likes of Lee Chapman and Chris Fairclough.  He began the next season with a bang, scoring a hat trick in the Charity Shield against Liverpool and another triple (the first in the Premier League) against Spurs. But all was not well – Cantona’s individualism not mixing well with the rigid long ball game favoured by Howard Wilkinson.
Then came a fateful phone call in December 1992. Leeds contacted United about buying Denis Irwin (laughable, given they let him go for nothing in 1986), an obvious non-starter. However, either Alex Ferguson or United chairman Martin Edwards asked about Cantona – the word came back a deal might be on, and in quick time, United had a new forward. 

His impact was close to instant. At the time, we were struggling in the league, not scoring enough goals and looking like the failure to clinch the title the year before has sucked the fight from the players. Eric came along and galvanised everything. Linking well with Mark Hughes, he was given the chance to express himself with a freedom denied to him before. It's not an exaggeration to say things clicked almost overnight, as we won eight of the ten games following his debut.

More importantly, Manchester welcomed the man with open arms and he felt right at home. United fans recognise genius when we see it, and in Eric we knew we had someone with that ability to do the complete unexpected, a player to make you gasp in a way we hadn't seen since for some years. So highly did we (still do) value him, that he became "The King", a title only given once before, to Denis Law. As much as his ability was his attitude - one of his team-mates described him as "collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the fucking place". He was unlike most footballers, living in a modest semi-detached house, taking an interest in art and cinema and capable of conversations beyond the usual "over the moon" variety.

In the 1993/94 season, he got even better, scoring vital goals as we held onto the title and won the FA Cup as well - Eric scoring two penalties in our 4-0 smashing of Chelsea. Our team that season has gone down in some legend to representing the peak of attacking football in the Fergie years: with Giggs, Sharpe and Kanchelskis running riot on the wings, both scoring and providing many goals. 

The next year seemed to be more of the same, until the famous night at Selhurst Park, when after being the subject of rough treatment from Crystal Palace defender Richard Shaw, Eric lashed out and was sent off by the referee. Trudging off the field, a Palace fan elected to charge down the stand shouting abuse only to be met with a flying kick from the King. For this, he was banned for nine months and United's season resulted in zilch. 

It was a strange time for us, and when Hughes, Ince and Kanchelskis were sold off that summer, some of us questioned Alex Ferguson's sanity. What we also didn't know at the time was that Eric was feeling fed up and almost ready to quit: it took a visit from Fergie to Paris to convince him to return to Manchester. 

And how glad we would be that he did. Made captain of a team where the likes of Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and David Beckham were now regulars, he was a strong influence and led from example: at the climax of the campaign we had a run where we seemed to win most games 1-0 with the goal from Eric. He repeated this trick in the cup final, slamming in a late winner against Liverpool in a moment that won't be forgotten by reds anywhere. 

The next season, though we won the league again, he didn't seem quite himself. Perhaps at 31, he realised he wasn't at his peak anymore. His retirement that summer was a huge shock, but in hindsight I can only respect his decision. He'd fallen out of love with the game and wanted to go do all other things with his life. In four and a half years, he'd helped turn a club of under-achievers into the most dominant club in England. There have been players before and after who have had more talent, but very few have won the hearts of the fans as much as Eric. 

Nowadays, he’s continuing to develop his acting skills on stage and screen (including the brilliant Looking For Eric) and working towards getting New York Cosmos back off the ground. And he’s still the sexiest fucker who walks the Earth.