âIn my early years at United, there was a playersâ pool and each of us would get about £800 out of it at the end of the season for the work weâd done for the in-house magazines, the club videos,â. âWe were all on decent money and eight hundred quid wasnât going to make or break us, so one time, we decided to put all the cheques into a hat and the last cheque out, whoeverâs name was on it, got to keep all of the cheques. âWe all put our cheques in except a couple of the younger players â I think it was Becks and Gary and Phil (Neville). âThey opted out. They were new on the scene and didnât have the money to spare, but Scholesy and Nicky Butt put their cheques in. âI think I was the third last name out, so I got a run for my money, but the last cheque out â Eric Cantona. Heâd won about sixteen grand. âHe came in the next day, there was plenty of banter â âEric, you lucky bââ!â Fââ money to money. âBut he had got somebody to cash the cheques, heâd split the money in two and he gave it to Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt because, he said, the two of them had the balls to go into it when they couldnât really afford it. The two lads took home about eight grand each. âI just thought, âwhat a gesture.â Nobody else would have done it.â
One of Man Utd's better legends, what Leeds let him go for I'll never know but he still make me laugh with his beer adverts, eccentric and French but what a player ( and before anyone mentions the kung fu kick he isn't the only player to retaliate towards personal abuse ).
Theres been some brilliant snippets published in Keanes book. He's deconstructed Fergie superbly. Its a pity the press never stood up to him at the time.
Made me laugh at the " we were on decent money " if I remember right keane was on 50k a week then! That's more then decent.
What people forget / overlook about Cantona is the way he retired. He didnt wind down or move to a lesser club, he wasnt over the hill and he wasnt out of contract - he simply decided he didnt want to play any more. He'd just had a brilliant season but at the end told Ferguson he'd had enough and Alex said he's the only player ever he'd just have let walk away. Im trying to think of an equivalent now - maybe Gerrard at the end of last season simply telling Liverpool he'd had enough. Amazing way to end it.
I loved that kick, just as I loved Pressies punch; I might have to hang my head in shame, but what the . . .
Nice touch from Cantona...where as at Everton... Gazza use to borrow and crash the young players 2nd hand cars on purpose...and Duncan disorderly once got a young starstruck newbie to hold his dick whilst he got a shower!(not in a ***** way just cos he could for a laugh)...both true.
It wouldn't have been before 1996, and if Becks was involved it probably wasn't before 1997, as he didn't really figure much until 96/97. I can't imagine Keane would have been on much more than 12-14k back then. Surely not 50k? (Still ****loads, of course.)
Didn't Beckham make his debut about 1994? The way Keane's talking it's seems Scholes, The Neville's, Butt and Beckham where YTS.
He only made a couple of sub appearances in 94/95, but he actually played a lot more in 95/96 than I realised.
I reckon Keane wouldn't have been even earning £12-14k a week back in the mid 90's Man U (until recently) had a very tight pay structure and also it's only the last 10 years that pay has soared for top players. Suppose we'll never know.
I saw an interview with Alan Kennedy about his goal in the 1981 European Cup Final, and he said at that time, he was on £500 a week.
