Cantona says he would have refused to join United if Ratcliffe had been owner in 1992

Eric Cantona has declared he would never have joined Manchester United from Leeds in 1992 had Sir Jim Ratcliffe been a co-owner of the club, directly condemning the British billionaire’s repeated public statements on immigration.

Speaking during an evening event in the Republic of Ireland, Cantona was asked by well-known United fan Pete Boyle whether Ratcliffe’s views would have deterred him from signing for the club more than 30 years ago. “No,” Cantona replied bluntly, before elaborating: “Of course not. You know what I think about all of this, with this kind of politics. And I cannot understand that someone like this can say something like this when he’s one of the owners of the club.”

Ratcliffe, who acquired up to 29 per cent of United through a company he named Trawlers Limited — a reference to Cantona’s famous seagulls speech, with the Frenchman his self-declared favourite player — made headlines again after telling the BBC that the United Kingdom “is on the slide” and that politicians are not “tough enough to deal with the immigration problem.” The comments follow an earlier remark this year in which Ratcliffe claimed the UK had been “colonised” by immigrants, for which he subsequently apologised. Ratcliffe himself is a resident of Monaco, where he pays no UK income tax.

Cantona pushed back forcefully on the substance of Ratcliffe’s position, arguing that football’s greatest players have historically emerged from successive waves of immigration. “Football is made — all the greatest players come from different waves of immigration. Everywhere, in France, in England, everywhere,” he said.

He pointed to French football as a specific example, citing Raymond Kopa — son of Polish immigrants who came to France in the 1950s — as well as Michel Platini’s Italian heritage and his own Spanish roots: “My mother came from Spanish refugees. I cannot accept this kind of thing.” Cantona noted he has made a documentary on the subject, titled French Football: An Immigrant History.

The controversy has drawn a political response. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, rejected Ratcliffe’s characterisation of Britain’s trajectory, saying: “I hear people saying the country is on the slide — we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of.” Burnham had previously been more pointed in his criticism of Ratcliffe’s earlier remarks, stating they went “against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood.”