Eric Cantona warns against selling Old Trafford naming rights

The King has spoken.

Eric Cantona says Manchester United should be owned by “real fans” rather than rich investors. He also sent a warning to club chiefs about Old Trafford.

In an incredible interview with The Athletic (£), Cantona took the time to speak out against the Glazers, who have controversially owned the club since 2005. He joined former Manchester United captain, Gary Neville, by speaking out against the current ownership model.

Cantona says he would stop supporting his former club if they ever sold the naming rights to the stadium. This something that has been done previously at clubs such as Arsenal, Barcelona and Juventus.

However, it is deemed unacceptable for a club like United, especially if you asked Cantona.

“Now all the stadiums are called Emirates, Allianz,” said Cantona. “These stadiums lost the soul and history of the club like Arsenal and West Ham. I played at these stadiums. I spoke with some Arsenal fans and they hate these stadiums. These fans lost the soul of their clubs.

“More and more people try and do that. Fortunately, Old Trafford is still Old Trafford. Anfield is still Anfield. Can you imagine Old Trafford becoming a new stadium named after a brand? Or if one day they do that, I am sorry, but I am not a fan of United anymore. And I quit football forever.

“But don’t call this stadium Nestle or Amazon or whatever, please. Old Trafford is Old Trafford.”

Cantona was also asked what he thought about his former teammate’s comments when Neville said it was time for the Glazers to go.

The King replied: “Yes, maybe. I don’t know… I thought about something also.

“This club has on social media hundreds of thousands of fans. If they create an application today saying that 50 per cent of the club can be sold then why should you have one person or two people who invest £500m, instead you can have hundreds of millions of people who spend 10 euros, 100 euros, 1,000 euros, 20 euros, and 50 per cent of the club is owned by the real fans of Manchester United.”

Cantona is a fan of the 50+1 ownership model that exists in Germany as it would see more power return to the supporters.

“If they do it like this, yeah,” he added. “With social media now, you would do that like this (clicks fingers). I think it could be a good idea.”

These comments show why Cantona didn’t get a desired role at United because his views on the running of the club are completely different to Joel Glazer. The Glazers tend to make internal appointments so that they can use employees like puppets on a string. I can’t see Cantona working in that sort of environment.

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