Former Manchester United manager admitted he considered other options before pulling off the masterstroke of landing Leeds United forward Eric Cantona.
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Legendary former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who will be the guest in the next episode of UTD Podcast, recalled his 1992 search for a centre-forward that eventually led him to the future club legend Eric Cantona. Dion Dublin had been signed from Cambridge United in the previous summer and started well. He even scored the club’s first-ever winning goal in the Premier League with a late close-range effort at Southampton. But only two games later, when the Reds faced Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, Dublin broke his leg in a 1-0 victory. A run of three consecutive blanks in the league helped convince Ferguson that he had to bring in a new striker. It led to a series of interesting events.
Speaking to UTD Podcast hosts Helen Evans, Sam Homewood and David May, Sir Alex admitted that he considered other options before pulling off the incredible signing of Leeds United forward Cantona. He further confirmed that former Reds striker Peter Beardsley was a possibility, along with Alan Shearer and David Hirst.
Responding to the Dublin injury, he said, “I can’t remember the timelines of it but I was at a game in Paris besides Michel Platini and Gerard Houllier and Cantona had been suspended. Michel said to me I should sign Cantona and I said: ‘Is there not baggage there?’ He said: ‘Alex, you’ll love him. He’s a great lad. He just wants to be wanted.”
“Gerard echoed that but, by the time I got back, he was on trial at Sheffield Wednesday with Trevor Francis for a month. He was playing indoor football, something like that, but, come the end of the month, apparently Trevor offered him the chance to stay on and he said I’m not playing this. Trevor was very friendly with Howard [Wilkinson, the Leeds manager] and phoned Howard, who signed him immediately.”
“At that time, Lee Chapman had got injured against us just before Christmas – we played them three times in a month and the one we wanted to win, we drew. We won the other two cup ties in the League Cup and FA Cup. So he signed for Leeds.”
Sir Alex also spoke about an interesting conversation he heard between Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce. “As usual, I went for a bath after we played Leeds and Pally [Gary Pallister] and Brucey [Steve Bruce] were sat in the bath talking about him. They said what a player he is, such strength and going on about him and it got in my head. So, that summer, I’d tried to get Alan Shearer. I’d tried David Hirst,” he explained.
“I was in the chairman [Martin Edwards’s] office and suggested we go for Peter Beardsley, who was out of the Everton team at the time. We were about to make a call when we got a call from Bill Fotherby of Leeds, trying to sign Denis Irwin. I said no chance. I wrote on Martin’s desk ‘Cantona’ and he asked Bill: ‘What about Eric?’ And he hesitated and said I’ll need to ask Howard and I knew. I knew.
“About 15 minutes later, he said okay and they started negotiations over the price. They waned £1.1 million but Martin got to £900,000 actually and it was done like that. I always remember the next day because we were playing City in a derby game and Peter Reid and I had agreed to have lunch with Bob Cass and Joe Melling from the Mail on Sunday at the Portland Hotel.
“I said I need to go, sorry I can’t wait but I may come back. I signed him and he’d be playing on the Saturday. Peter asked where were you and I said I was just away to sign Cantona. He was like don’t be daft and I said honestly you’d better know if I’m telling you! I wouldn’t have let you leave here! So he was sub against City and came on when someone, Brian McClair I think, was injured in the game. He was a fantastic signing.”
