Eric Cantona says he would not have signed for Manchester United had Sir Jim Ratcliffe been an owner of the club at the time. Asked the question directly by United supporter Pete Boyle on TikTok, the Frenchman did not hesitate.
"No, Of course not," he replied.
Why he was asked
The question followed a BBC interview this week in which Ratcliffe, a co-owner at Old Trafford, said the United Kingdom is in decline because "nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem". Ratcliffe has previously named Cantona as his own favourite United player, which gives the exchange an awkward symmetry.
Cantona's answer went beyond the yes or no. "You know what I think about all of this, with this kind of politics and I cannot understand that someone like this can say something like this when he's one of the owners of the club," he said.
His argument is about where players come from
The former forward then made the point he clearly cared most about, which was less about Ratcliffe than about the composition of the game itself.
"Football is a very popular sport. Football is made - all the greatest players come from different waves of immigration. Everywhere, in France, in England, everywhere," Cantona said. "In France for instance, the greatest players in France, they all come from different waves of immigration."
It is not a new position for him. Cantona has spoken about politics, immigration and inequality for most of his post-playing life, often at greater length than anyone asked for, and has rarely worried about who was listening.
Still the loudest voice in the building
His standing at United is what makes it land. Cantona joined from Leeds in 1992 and won four Premier League titles in five seasons, a run that reshaped the club's decade and is still the first thing supporters of a certain age bring up. When he says something about Old Trafford, it travels.
Ratcliffe has been a divisive figure among United supporters for other reasons already, from ticket pricing to redundancies to the running of the new stadium project. This is a different sort of criticism and it comes from a different sort of source. United have not commented.
Background: Eric Cantona joined Manchester United from Leeds United in 1992 and won four Premier League titles in five seasons. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a co-owner of Manchester United and made his comments on immigration in a BBC interview this week. Cantona's remarks were made to United fan Pete Boyle on TikTok and reported by The Telegraph.
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