Valentin Deudon is a French poet, author and football fan, which is what makes Éric Cantona’s 82 Goals different to the usual journalistic endeavour. Instead of being yet another biography, to add to those by Ian Ridley, Philippe Auclair and Wayne Barton, this small concise book is a precise record of every one of the 82 goals scored by Cantona during his time at Manchester United, written with artistic flair.
“Each player has a number, role and temperament. Each has his own style on the pitch. Each has a nickname. He is “the King.”
Extreme Non-Conformity
The brilliance of Cantona is enmeshed with his famously volcanic temper (that kung-fu kick aimed at a racist fan is thrilling to this day). He was exiled from French football after numerous run-ins with referees and teammates, which drove him to England.
Cantona arrived at Manchester United from Leeds United in 1992 when the club was in the doldrums. He was the catalyst the club needed: they won their first Premier League title in 1993. He instilled a ruthless, winning mentality that sustained the club for years. Four Premier League titles were won during those final five years of his career there. The ultimate playmaker, he was theatrical, a showman who famously treated football as an art form rather than just an athletic activity.
“It was a creation, hinted at by the leather of a nonchalant ball that dreamed of being turned into a masterpiece. With no brutality, with the softness of an artist’s foot, thanks to the grace of an unparalleled upright torso. A perfectly vertical posture, practical elegance, providing an overview that took in all the distant beauties yet to be created.”
Deudon does not just list the goals, he gives context, establishes the stakes before The Kick sending the ball into the back of the net, describes those micro-moments happening in a second, the type of goal, focuses on the sensory and physical aspects and, importantly, the psychological. There are intriguing nuggets of information. Cantona’s maternal grandfather, Pedro Raurich, was a Catalan, a member of an anarchist militia in Spain before the Civil War who fought against Franco. So much for defending freedom from one generation to the next.
A Window into 1990s Cultural History
Cantona is a legend to this day thanks to his transformative impact on English football, and because of his effortless grace, French flair, untameable streak and famous collar-up arrogance. The man and his myth have only grown since he walked away from the game in 1997 at just thirty years old.
For someone who is not particularly interested in football, Éric Cantona’s 82 Goals is worth a read because it approaches the Beautiful Game as human drama, performance art and a study of a psychological enigma. The book matches the spirit of its subject: it is artistic, somewhat eccentric, ambitious, passionate and does not follow the established rules of sports writing.
The 1990s in Britain was the era of Cool Britannia, Britpop and an explosion of innovative creativity in art and fashion. Cantona was a part of all that: a Frenchman who captured the British imagination like no one else.
“Ooh ahh Cantona! Ooh ahh nostalgie!”
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