My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble.
Eric F'ing Cantona: "When I was in Manchester, I loved the city and had a great time."
Eric Cantona has told City’s moaning stars to stop complaining about Manchester and concentrate on winning trophies.
But he has also warned Roberto Mancini’s title hopefuls that United will continue to dominate - even without the retired Paul Scholes.
The French legend has returned to his spiritual home to help celebrate Scholes’ testimonial against New York Cosmos tomorrow night, where the director will manage a dream Cosmos team including Fabio Cannavaro, Gary Neville, and Patrick Vieira.
He enjoyed five years of incredible success at Old Trafford, winning four Premier League titles and two FA Cups from 1992-97.
And after hearing that Mario Balotelli this week joined Carlos Tevez in insisting he has struggled to settle in Manchester, Cantona says success on the pitch is what’s important.
“They don’t like the place?” he asked. “It depends where you come from. If they come from Milan, maybe."
“I don’t want to name other cities, but if their city is better, then why did they come?"
“I had a great time here, but the most important thing for me was to play for the best club in the world with the best players in the world.
“The most important thing is you are all professional players. You travel and you try to find a city you can enjoy, but the greatest time you can have is on the pitch.
“When I was in Manchester I loved the city and had a great time.”
Cantona begins his football comeback when managing a Cosmos select XI against United.
The Frenchman has been installed as Director of Soccer for the legendary New York club that boasted stars such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto during its heyday in the 70s.
Tomorrow will be Scholes’ official farewell to United supporters. Sir Alex Ferguson has spent the summer trying to recruit a successor for the midfielder - and was yesterday dealt blow in his bid to land Wesley Sneijder, with Inter Milan infering the Dutchman is not for sale.
But Cantona is adamant that the trophies will keep coming at United - and says not even City’s mega spending under their Abu Dhabi owners will see them topple their red rivals.
“You can replace a lot of players - especially at a club like United and with a great manager like Alex Ferguson."
“Every time a player leaves we think the club cannot win any more. But United still win things because they are very strong as an academy."
“They have a great history and work every day and any player can be replaced. Of course Paul Scholes is a great player, but I left, Cristiano Ronaldo left, Mark Hughes left, David Beckham left and United is still one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“Ferguson will be more difficult to replace.”
On City’s hopes to take United’s Premier League title this season, he added: “United is the best team. I don’t know how City work. Maybe they are working on an academy, but today they seem to be the team that wants to spend millions to buy players and build a team."
“They have been successful because they won the FA Cup, but if they only want to do that they will not be as strong as United.”
“United work long-term on raising talents.”
source
Paul Scholes's testimonial will be broadcast on FSC tomorrow at 11:30AM PST/2:30PM EST, as well as MUTV at 19:30 BST.
New York Cosmos (managed by Cantona): Fabio Cannavaro(!), Brad Friedel, Gary Neville, Wayne Bridge, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, Nicky Butt, Dwight Yorke, Robbie Keane, Michel Salgado, Brian McBride, and eight Under-23 Cosmos players.
Manchester United: De Gea, Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Amos; Evra, Jones, Ferdinand, Smalling, Vidic, Fabio, Rafael, Evans; Anderson, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Young, Fletcher, Valencia, Obertan, Gibson, Cleverley, Pogba, Norwood, Morrison; Owen, Berbatov, Rooney, Welbeck, Macheda, Diouf.
Eric Cantona has told City’s moaning stars to stop complaining about Manchester and concentrate on winning trophies.
But he has also warned Roberto Mancini’s title hopefuls that United will continue to dominate - even without the retired Paul Scholes.
The French legend has returned to his spiritual home to help celebrate Scholes’ testimonial against New York Cosmos tomorrow night, where the director will manage a dream Cosmos team including Fabio Cannavaro, Gary Neville, and Patrick Vieira.
He enjoyed five years of incredible success at Old Trafford, winning four Premier League titles and two FA Cups from 1992-97.
And after hearing that Mario Balotelli this week joined Carlos Tevez in insisting he has struggled to settle in Manchester, Cantona says success on the pitch is what’s important.
“They don’t like the place?” he asked. “It depends where you come from. If they come from Milan, maybe."
“I don’t want to name other cities, but if their city is better, then why did they come?"
“I had a great time here, but the most important thing for me was to play for the best club in the world with the best players in the world.
“The most important thing is you are all professional players. You travel and you try to find a city you can enjoy, but the greatest time you can have is on the pitch.
“When I was in Manchester I loved the city and had a great time.”
Cantona begins his football comeback when managing a Cosmos select XI against United.
The Frenchman has been installed as Director of Soccer for the legendary New York club that boasted stars such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto during its heyday in the 70s.
Tomorrow will be Scholes’ official farewell to United supporters. Sir Alex Ferguson has spent the summer trying to recruit a successor for the midfielder - and was yesterday dealt blow in his bid to land Wesley Sneijder, with Inter Milan infering the Dutchman is not for sale.
But Cantona is adamant that the trophies will keep coming at United - and says not even City’s mega spending under their Abu Dhabi owners will see them topple their red rivals.
“You can replace a lot of players - especially at a club like United and with a great manager like Alex Ferguson."
“Every time a player leaves we think the club cannot win any more. But United still win things because they are very strong as an academy."
“They have a great history and work every day and any player can be replaced. Of course Paul Scholes is a great player, but I left, Cristiano Ronaldo left, Mark Hughes left, David Beckham left and United is still one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“Ferguson will be more difficult to replace.”
On City’s hopes to take United’s Premier League title this season, he added: “United is the best team. I don’t know how City work. Maybe they are working on an academy, but today they seem to be the team that wants to spend millions to buy players and build a team."
“They have been successful because they won the FA Cup, but if they only want to do that they will not be as strong as United.”
“United work long-term on raising talents.”
source
Paul Scholes's testimonial will be broadcast on FSC tomorrow at 11:30AM PST/2:30PM EST, as well as MUTV at 19:30 BST.
New York Cosmos (managed by Cantona): Fabio Cannavaro(!), Brad Friedel, Gary Neville, Wayne Bridge, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, Nicky Butt, Dwight Yorke, Robbie Keane, Michel Salgado, Brian McBride, and eight Under-23 Cosmos players.
Manchester United: De Gea, Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Amos; Evra, Jones, Ferdinand, Smalling, Vidic, Fabio, Rafael, Evans; Anderson, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Young, Fletcher, Valencia, Obertan, Gibson, Cleverley, Pogba, Norwood, Morrison; Owen, Berbatov, Rooney, Welbeck, Macheda, Diouf.