Eric Cantona Says Ratcliffe’s Views Would Have Stopped Man United Move
Eric Cantona has said he would not have signed for Manchester United if Sir Jim Ratcliffe had been one of the club’s owners at the time.
The former United forward delivered the verdict after Ratcliffe’s remarks on immigration in a BBC interview this week. The co-owner said the United Kingdom was declining because “nobody’s tough enough to deal with the immigration problem.”
Asked by United supporter Pete Boyle on TikTok whether he would have joined the club under Ratcliffe, Cantona answered: “No, of course not.”
The Frenchman said he could not accept those views from somebody in Ratcliffe’s position at Old Trafford. “You know what I think about all of this, with this kind of politics,” Cantona said. “I cannot understand that somebody like this can say something like this when he’s one of the owners of the club.”
Cantona pointed to football’s multicultural history, arguing that immigration has shaped the game’s greatest teams and players across Europe.
“Football is a very popular sport,” he said. “All the greatest players come from different waves of immigration — everywhere, in France, in England, everywhere. In France, for instance, the greatest players all come from different waves of immigration.”
Cantona’s Old Trafford legacy
Ratcliffe has previously identified Cantona as his favourite Manchester United player, but the club icon’s comments underline a sharp divide with the INEOS chief.
Cantona arrived at United from Leeds United in 1992 and became a central figure in the club’s revival under Sir Alex Ferguson. He helped United claim four Premier League crowns across five seasons before retiring in 1997.
What happens next is unclear, with Cantona’s intervention adding another high-profile voice to the reaction surrounding Ratcliffe’s comments.
