Nicky Butt - a steal at £2.5 million

Big Ears

does anyone have the stats on Eric Cantona's goal scoring and assists record while he was playing for United ?

in all competitions if possible .

TwoShedsJackson

It was around 85 goals in 185 appearances, I think - can't find an actual list.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Big Ears
does anyone have the stats on Eric Cantona's goal scoring and assists record while he was playing for United ?

in all competitions if possible .

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=1283

Big Ears

Originally posted by eirebhoy
http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=1283

thanks Eirebhoy .

SteM

This thread's hilarious! Just though I'd stick in my 2c worth.

IMO Butt is a very good buy for Newcastle for 2.5m. He's only 29 and is the sort of player that could play on for another 5 years or more. He wasn't happy at United so United sold him at cut price and that was the right thing for them to do, it's not like they are loosing money on him. With the state of English football now clubs will always look at a player and think 'We could pay £5m for him but what's his resale value?' and Butt will probably not be worth much in a few seasons time. Selling him for £2.5m helped United get a wage off the books and helped the player get transferred to a decent team. Will he be a big loss to Uniteds coming season? I don't think so, in the games where we need a player like him we always have Phil Neville who can do holding job in midfield.

Was Cantona overrated? That sort of thing is purely subjective but I was lucky enough to see him play live quite a few times and I thought the man was a great footballer, inspirational to players around him. Saying he only turned it on against the Ipswiches and Places is a bit untrue, he played some great games against the big teams in England too. He was unlucky to be at playing at United when UEFA had their 3 forigners rule I felt.

The Muppet

Originally posted by SteM
This thread's hilarious! Just though I'd stick in my 2c worth.

Saying he only turned it on against the Ipswiches and Places is a bit untrue, he played some great games against the big teams in England too. He was unlucky to be at playing at United when UEFA had their 3 forigners rule I felt.

Yeah Like the Goal he scored against Liverpool in the FA Cup Final while moving backwards, not another player in the prem would have scored that.


This is completly off topic so I will answer you and then leave it at that, sorry to eveyone else for the off topic but the subject was raised in this thread.

Originally posted by dirkey_wynne

I was talking about in England in general. He won one medal elsewhere. The reason he stood out so highly is because the English defending was poor at this time, and as previously stated they were not used to these types of players. Hence Eric was found out in Europe. Deny that if you will....

United as a team performed poorly in europe there were numerous reasons for that ie the ban following Heysel left English teams lagging behind the continental ones and the the rules on the number of foreigners in a team particularly affected the English league with scottish and welsh players counted as foreigners. That is the reason united were found out in europe and cantona was part of those teams that performed poorly but there were mitigating circumstances.

Originally posted by dirkey_wynne

Yes he had a massive influence on the teams. Personally I feel this was more due to his attitude than his ability. He was a good footballer, but not the best ever. He trained hard and he looked after himself. He was also not afraid to try different things - flicks, passes etc. This is what rubbed off on the team of the time. Do you disagree?[/B]

No I agree somewhat with what you are saying but the the flicks and inch perfect through balls and the spectacular goals were the result of his ability and not his attitude. The Cocky attitude defiinitely ruubed off on his young team mates and was the cataylist for what followed.

Originally posted by dirkey_wynne
You didn't see anyone put him above these players??? Well then these players must have been exempt from that poll where "all Utd fans" voted for Cantona as the best of all time! In my book that is putting him above all these players. [/B]

Sorry i had overlooked that . There are an estimated 500 million United fans on the planet . I doubt very much any of them have voted in any particular poll . Many united fans would never have seen Best Law Charlton or even much of Robson so as always polls are not wotrthe the papaer they are written on.

I never said he wasn't a legend. I said that his actual footballing ability has grown into mythical proportions. Watch his last season at OT and tell me his influence wasn't diminishing - he was being increasingly found out. Just as he had been time and time again in Europe.[/B][/QUOTE]

I know you didn,t say that but it was said in this thread and fact is he is held in very high esteem by the vast majority of united fans.


I,ll leave it at that Dirky as we are way off topic and we'll have to agree to differ on Cantona. Its nice to get a balanced discussion about united here without it going the old route. Hopefully we'll have many more in the the season ahead .

Cheers

dirkey_wynne

Originally posted by The Muppet

I,ll leave it at that Dirky as we are way off topic and we'll have to agree to differ on Cantona. Its nice to get a balanced discussion about united here without it going the old route. Hopefully we'll have many more in the the season ahead .
Cheers

Yup, it's been enjoyable having this debate! This is why I've been so itching to get access to the footie forum - been a very enjoyable first day!!

Big Ears

Originally posted by The Muppet


Sorry i had overlooked that . There are an estimated 500 million United fans on the planet . I doubt very much any of them have voted in any particular poll . Many united fans would never have seen Best Law Charlton or even much of Robson so as always polls are not wotrthe the papaer they are written on.

u forgot to add the 1.2 Billion fans from China .

if they voted in the poll I assume David Beckham would have won anyway .

PHB

Sorry but has anyone ever seen Best Law or Charlton play? Like i've seen the odd old game been shown but never enough.

I think Giggs is the best player ever from Man Utd :P

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As for Butt, he was a quality midfielder, but he lost his place because he wasn't able to get a regular game and got a b it messed up.
He was always second to Keano and Fergie likes to introduce yongsters, so Butt would only get every second game or so.

At Newcastle he is going to have a great chance.

This title race is going to be fantastic

Man Utd
Arsenal
Liverpool
Chelsea
Middelsbrough
Newcastle

Big Ears

Originally posted by PHB


This title race is going to be fantastic

Man Utd
Arsenal
Liverpool
Chelsea
Middelsbrough
Newcastle

im not sure about middelsbrough , yes the've brought good proven players , but there is a question about those players temperment.

I still wouldnt automatically say they dont have a chance of finnishing 4th same with Birmingham , but is is very unlikely.

I think Arsenal , Man United , Newcastle , Chelsea , and Liverpool make up the top tier of the Premiership and Middlesbrough , Birmingham , Tottenham and maybe Fulham are making up a second tier.(better than the mud-table tier that used to exist , outside the top few teams )

I dont think anyside other than anyoff those 9 sides will get European places.