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‘Good on you Eric’

Ferguson had always been predisposed to defend Cantona, because of both his extraordinary talent and his tempestuous reputation. Manchester United’s manager was aware when signing Cantona that he would require a particular strand of his man-management, but he rejected the notion that the Frenchman’s disciplinary problems before arriving at Old Trafford should define how he was treated.

‘He had been a bit of a wayward character at his other clubs and had gained a reputation for being unruly and difficult,’ Ferguson wrote in Leading. ‘It was almost as if he was considered some sort of demon. That made no sense to me. When you are dealing with individuals with unusual talent, it makes sense to treat them differently. I just made it a point to ignore what had happened in the past and treat Eric as a new man when he joined United.’

Ferguson makes that sound simple, but the strategy went against the grain. Ignoring Cantona’s rap sheet inevitably became a defence of it. During the period immediately after Cantona moved to United, the media regularly questioned Ferguson’s decision to take on a player with such an explosive personality. After finishing only four points behind champions Leeds United in 1991/92 – up from sixth the previous season – United only needed a slight improvement to win the league. The accusation was that Cantona risked rocking the boat so much that it might sink.

In 1994 Sky Sports produced a video montage of Cantona’s fouls and aggression set to music. It made Ferguson furious at the alleged victimisation of his player, although the reality is that United’s manager needed no excuse to rail against the conduct of journalists who he felt regularly threw rocks around a large glass house.

Ferguson did not just give Cantona a clean slate; he treated him differently to the other players in United’s squad. Ferguson usually maintained an air of authority on the training ground or on matchday, but would go out of his way to talk to Cantona one-on-one every day. Recognising that the Frenchman was a sensitive personality, he would talk to him about different aspects of football relating to United and beyond in order to ensure the player’s well-being.

One interesting theory – proposed by Ferguson himself – is that the Manchester United manager saw plenty of his own personality in Cantona, thus giving him added personal motivation to get the best out of him. Both had reputations for explosive anger and both saw themselves as outsiders, non-Englishmen attempting to lead an English sporting institution.

The true explanation might well have been more simple than that. Ferguson, renowned as a pragmatist, understood that having bought a unique talent and personality, there was very little to be gained in trying to mould Cantona and risk diluting him. Do that, and Manchester United might as well not have bothered at all.

If Cantona’s special treatment could easily have caused resentment within United’s dressing room, Ferguson’s dismissal of that suggestion is gloriously pithy: ‘I did things for Eric … that I did not do for them, but I don’t think this was resented, because the players understood the exceptional talents had qualities they did not possess.’

Whether or not Ferguson’s assessment was accurate is open to interpretation. In his autobiography, Mark Hughes writes that ‘the manager had to stretch a few principles to accommodate a Frenchman who is his own man and obviously has had his problems conforming’, and that while ‘Ferguson didn’t exactly rewrite the rulebook he treated him differently’. But the overwhelming sense is that the Manchester United players understood Ferguson’s reasoning. That is a tribute to both the manager’s man-management and their own maturity.

It was Ferguson’s special treatment of Cantona that made him so angry about the Frenchman’s actions at Selhurst Park. Having done so much to accommodate him, Ferguson expected to at least be met halfway. Cantona had made his manager look foolish, and Ferguson certainly knew that this was not an incident that could simply be brushed away through clever manipulation of the media.

Ferguson’s initial reaction was that Manchester United should sack Cantona. He describes the atmosphere around the club’s bigwigs as ‘filled with an overriding sense of doom’, but also meeting Sir Roland Smith and Maurice Watkins in the Edge hotel in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, the evening after the night before. Smith and Watkins were the chairmen of the club and plc. United’s share price had dropped by over 3 per cent in 24 hours.

Smith agreed with Ferguson that Cantona should be dismissed immediately, not least because neither could envisage a situation in which it was palatable for the Frenchman to play for the club again. In A Year in the Life, Ferguson’s diary of that season, the manager detailed his frustration at Cantona’s conduct:

I have supported Eric solidly through thick and thin, but I felt that this time the good name of Manchester United demanded strong action. The club is bigger than any individual. I related that to the board and they agreed.

Ferguson had the support of his wife Cathy, forever the manager’s rock, who assisted Ferguson’s decision-making far more than supporters might realise. She agreed with her husband that Cantona might have to leave or risk Ferguson being seen to prioritise on-pitch success above moral decency.

Ferguson’s worries were twofold. He believed that sticking by Cantona through this incident would arm United’s critics with the valid argument that a sporting institution had ceded to the temper of one majestically talented player. But he also foresaw the incident being repeated, given the media storm that had raged in the hours since the assault on Simmons. Provocation would only get worse. This was Ferguson admitting defeat in his attempt to control Cantona.

Ferguson would later recall a phone conversation with Sir Richard Greenbury – a friend and Manchester United supporter who was the chief executive and chairman of Marks & Spencer – in which Greenbury insisted that Cantona should stay. But it was Watkins who effectively guaranteed Cantona’s United future. He detailed the legal difficulties in sacking the player, and pointed out Cantona’s financial and sporting assets. On these points, neither Ferguson nor Smith needed convincing.

Eventually Ferguson, Smith and Watkins decided on a disaster-recovery plan. They would suspend Cantona until the end of the season and fine him two weeks’ wages, the maximum available to them. They communicated the punishment to both Cantona – who acquiesced – and Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association.

By lunchtime on the following day – Friday 27 January – Watkins released a statement detailing the ban: ‘In reaching this decision, which the player fully accepts, Manchester United has had regard to its responsibilities both to the club itself and the game as a whole.’

The statement left open the possibility of Cantona continuing to play reserve team football, but that was quickly rejected by Taylor. ‘I don’t think there’s any real prospect that he’ll be playing for Manchester United reserves, A team or whatever, between now and the date of his commission hearing,’ the PFA chief said. The Football Association quickly applied to FIFA for the ban to apply globally, and got their wish.

The speed with which Manchester United announced Cantona’s punishment was deliberately designed to curtail any further investigation by the Football Association. Having been charged by the FA and subjected to a criminal investigation, United could not hope that the storm in which Cantona had been swept up would pass quickly. But by taking him immediately out of the spotlight with his suspension, the club did at least hope to limit the damage.