Eric Cantona teams up with Gary Lineker as Man Utd chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe slammed again

· Mirror

Gary Lineker and Eric Cantona have both slammed Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe over recent days, following his latest comments bemoaning immigration

Eric Cantona has joined Gary Lineker in calling out Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the Manchester United co-owner said: "Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem". The four-time Premier League winner even claims he would not have moved to Old Trafford from Leeds United in 1992 had Ratcliffe been a minority shareholder at the time.

Cantona, 60, is the INEOS founder's favourite player. Ratcliffe, 73, even named the company he established to acquire a 25% stake in United, Trawlers Limited.

It is a reference to Cantona's famous quote: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."

However, the admiration is very much one-sided due to their differing politics. After being asked by well-known United fan Pete Boyle in a video shared on TikTok whether he would have been willing to sign for a club part-owned by Ratcliffe, Cantona said: "No."

After being encouraged to expand on his blunt response to the hypothetical question posed, the interviewee went on to add: "Of course not.

> "You know what I think about all of this, with this kind of politics. I cannot understand how someone like this can say something like that when he's one of the club's owners."

Cantona continued: "Football is a very popular sport. Football is made - 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. I made a documentary on that, French Football: An Immigrant History.

> "Raymond Kopa, in the fifties, was the son of Polish immigrants who came to France, worked in France, and worked hard in France. And then the Italians, Italians like Platini. And then the Spanish, like me, my mother came from Spanish refugees. I cannot accept this kind of thing."

These comments come days after Lineker branded Ratcliffe a 'not particularly pleasant human being' who is 'even worse than the Glazers'.

He said on The Rest is Football podcast: "I must congratulate the Glazers on finding someone even worse than them that they can blame and getting him in there and getting all the stick: Jim Ratcliffe.

> "He's clearly... I don't think he's a particularly pleasant human being, and it's a bit of a shambles of a football club the way it's being run at the moment. So, well done to the Glazers on that one, deflecting everything away from them!"

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