He once lit up the theatre of dreams. Now the man known as King Eric to the Old Trafford faithful it set to light up another stage – and he knows just the band to support him.
It will come as no surprise to fans who once watched him grace that hallowed turf with his collar turned up and a rock’n’roll swagger to his step, Cantona is a man confident in his new musical direction.
So much so, the French forward turned singer-songwriter, believes he has already found the perfect warm-up act, declaring: “I’m a headliner of course... maybe The Rolling Stones can come to support me.”
Cantona will be embarking on his debut UK tour soon to celebrate the release of his four-track EP, I’ll Make My Own Heaven.
The Gallic maestro, 57, has long expressed a love of the arts and is set to perform live at a string of intimate shows from 26 October, beginning at Manchester’s Stoller Hall.
“I’m a great performer,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday (20 October). “Of course. You know that!”
“I had two passions, it was art and sport. So I started with football... I have a deep need of expressing myself, so when I stopped football, I started to act.”
In 2009, Cantona was the subject of a Ken Loach film, Looking For Eric, which starred Cantona as himself, working as a guru and life coach to a struggling Mancunian postman who is obsessed with the former striker.
The film was borne out of a movie idea Cantona suggested to the British director behind critically acclaimed works such as Kes and I, Daniel Blake.
But it was during lockdown that Catona, clearly a fan of artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and Nick Cave, picked up the guitar again. Despite confessing that he’s a “very bad” guitar player, he said he was “good enough” that he was able to write original songs.
Interestingly, he claimed that French is “not so musical” as the English language, explaining why he tends to switch between the two when composing songs. There are two English-language tracks on his EP, and two in French.
Cantona, who retired from football aged 30, also confirmed that he makes a reference to his notorious arrest for common assault, after drop-kicking an abusive Crystal Palace fan in 1995.
Over six seasons in English football, he won the League five times and the FA Cup twice. So, he’s no stranger to performing in front of huge audiences.
“I’ve been heroic, I’ve been criminal,” he sings on the title track, “I’ll Make My Own Heaven”.
“Criminal in terms of a crime, it’s not killing somebody [but] I’ve been arrested once,” he told the BBC. “It’s what I sing: I’ve been heroic, I’ve been criminal...”
Cantona and the Stones will actually be jostling for chart positions next week, with the legendary rock band having just released their long-awaited 24th album, Hackney Diamonds.
As for his future career, Cantona plans on recording a live album during his Manchester and London shows next week, and hopes to one day headline “the theatre of dreams”, at Old Trafford.
“Why not?” he said. “C’est la vie.”
