Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2010 23:55:31 GMT
Daily Mirror, Saturday November 28 1992
Emlyn Hughes on the last big gamble of United's Alex Ferguson
A master stroke... that's what some people are saying about Manchester United's signing of Eric Cantona.
Me? I say it's a panic buy. One last frantic roll of the dice to see if the Frenchman can hit the jackpot for Alex Ferguson. It could either win him something this season, or cost him his job. Break the bank - or bust him.
And I'll admit when I heard the news I was simply staggered. Cantona looks the business, but in my opinion he's a flashy foreigner. He'll score goals for United, when they are two up. But don't look for him to get in there when it hurts, or to decide a game and be a matchwinner.
Cantona could have won the second leg of Leeds' European Cup tie with Rangers at Elland Road if he had been good enough. But he wasn't and he didn't. I counted a hat-trick of chances squandered before he knocked one in when the game was dead and buried.
United will want Cantona to produce the main meal of Boeuf Bourgignon, not just the appetizer of frog's legs and no filling. It might be alright for a month or two, but what will happen if Alex goes into one of his dressing-room rages when things start to go wrong?
There have been allegations against the Frenchman that he shuffles off in a sulk when the flak begins to fly and has been known to miss training or even go home for two days. Don't forget he was trouble in France, where he fell foul of their authorities and was nicknamed L'Enfant Terrible.
For Fergie to sign a player who looked as if he was being phased out at Elland Road, suggests he pushed the panic button. He failed to get Alan Shearer, who chose Blackburn instead of Old Trafford, then got no joy out of Sheffield Wednesday when he went in for David Hurst. Before that he sold Mark Robbins, who has since helped shoot Norwich to the top. So what he's done represents perhaps the biggest transfer gamble of his career at the club. I suspect Howard Wilkinson will get the best out of the deal... the fact he's got his money back is sound business.
Im always suspicious of crowd pleasers. Cantona had his fan club, and a chant, but it didn't mean he could play. Too often he didn't, when it mattered most to Leeds, like the two away European Cup ties he disappeared from. As Wilkinson said "I can only play eleven players." What he didn't say was that Cantona was one of them.
Ferguson is becoming desperate in his quest to win the League for United, but his side can't score goals. I'm certain Cantona is not going to put that problem right. I cannot see him being the man who'll either get goals or start Mark Hughes scoring. Shearer was his man. Should have been, and Fergie is now getting stick from the fans for missing him. He has to expect it, and now he is forced to go clutching at straws.
If United win the league it will prove to be the best signing of all...but if they don't...
Cantona is full of flair, he's flash, he gave Leeds something different and helped them win the title. Perhaps that's what has turned Ferguson's head. Perhaps he thinks what he's done once, he can do again. It will keep his critics quiet on the terraces, and within the club. But for how long?
Emlyn Hughes on the last big gamble of United's Alex Ferguson
A master stroke... that's what some people are saying about Manchester United's signing of Eric Cantona.
Me? I say it's a panic buy. One last frantic roll of the dice to see if the Frenchman can hit the jackpot for Alex Ferguson. It could either win him something this season, or cost him his job. Break the bank - or bust him.
And I'll admit when I heard the news I was simply staggered. Cantona looks the business, but in my opinion he's a flashy foreigner. He'll score goals for United, when they are two up. But don't look for him to get in there when it hurts, or to decide a game and be a matchwinner.
Cantona could have won the second leg of Leeds' European Cup tie with Rangers at Elland Road if he had been good enough. But he wasn't and he didn't. I counted a hat-trick of chances squandered before he knocked one in when the game was dead and buried.
United will want Cantona to produce the main meal of Boeuf Bourgignon, not just the appetizer of frog's legs and no filling. It might be alright for a month or two, but what will happen if Alex goes into one of his dressing-room rages when things start to go wrong?
There have been allegations against the Frenchman that he shuffles off in a sulk when the flak begins to fly and has been known to miss training or even go home for two days. Don't forget he was trouble in France, where he fell foul of their authorities and was nicknamed L'Enfant Terrible.
For Fergie to sign a player who looked as if he was being phased out at Elland Road, suggests he pushed the panic button. He failed to get Alan Shearer, who chose Blackburn instead of Old Trafford, then got no joy out of Sheffield Wednesday when he went in for David Hurst. Before that he sold Mark Robbins, who has since helped shoot Norwich to the top. So what he's done represents perhaps the biggest transfer gamble of his career at the club. I suspect Howard Wilkinson will get the best out of the deal... the fact he's got his money back is sound business.
Im always suspicious of crowd pleasers. Cantona had his fan club, and a chant, but it didn't mean he could play. Too often he didn't, when it mattered most to Leeds, like the two away European Cup ties he disappeared from. As Wilkinson said "I can only play eleven players." What he didn't say was that Cantona was one of them.
Ferguson is becoming desperate in his quest to win the League for United, but his side can't score goals. I'm certain Cantona is not going to put that problem right. I cannot see him being the man who'll either get goals or start Mark Hughes scoring. Shearer was his man. Should have been, and Fergie is now getting stick from the fans for missing him. He has to expect it, and now he is forced to go clutching at straws.
If United win the league it will prove to be the best signing of all...but if they don't...
Cantona is full of flair, he's flash, he gave Leeds something different and helped them win the title. Perhaps that's what has turned Ferguson's head. Perhaps he thinks what he's done once, he can do again. It will keep his critics quiet on the terraces, and within the club. But for how long?
