Cantona, kung fu and seagulls 30 years on.
It’s crazy to think it’s 30 years ago this Saturday that Eric Cantona put the cat amongst the pigeons at Selhurst Park and put the seagulls amongst the sardines on Fleet Street. Time flies faster than Cantona’s kung-fu kick.
I’d rushed from my wedding anniversary lunch to get to Manchester United’s game with Crystal Palace. It was an important game to cover: a difficult, physical Palace side threatened to complicate United’s attempt to defend their title. Blackburn Rovers just wouldn’t go away.
Any game with Cantona was worth covering for the possibility of a show-stopping goal, showdown or meltdown. He was targeted, suffered some late challenges, and failed to be sufficiently protected by the referee, Alan Wilkie. “Why don’t you do your f*cking job?!” Alex Ferguson demanded of Wilkie at the break. Would VAR have picked up some of those more robust challenges now? Probably. Referees would definitely not allow a reducer or two to go as in 1995.