10 Things Eric Cantona Wants You To Forget

3. He Asked To Cancel His Man Utd Contract

Eric Cantona is seen by many as Manchester United€™s greatest ever player, even claiming that very accolade in a 2001 fan poll. Having won four Premier League titles with United, his name is still sung at Old Trafford during every single home game. What isn€™t known about this Man Utd legend is that he actually asked to leave the club in August of 1995. In the aftermath of attacking a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park (don€™t worry, that€™s coming up shortly), Cantona started to get majorly miffed with the Football Association. The straw that broke the camel€™s back was when the FA took exception to Cantona playing for The Red Devils in a training ground match. At the end of his tether, King Eric went to the Man Utd hierarchy and asked for his contract to be terminated. It would take Alex Ferguson flying out to Paris to persuade Cantona to go back on his decision, see out his ban and then return to the Utd first team in order to lead them to further glory.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.