Football conspiracy theories: Eric Cantona's brother signs for Stockport County

The Premier League's most-famous footballer is joined by his brother

Football is full of conspiracy theories. Whether they are theories of fixed matches, drugged players, or biased referees, fans use conspiracy theories to deflect defeat and shift the blame from underperforming players toward dark shadowy figures.   

But what if something looks so dodgy that one of the widespread conspiracy theories was true? I find conspiracy theories, whether about football, the moon landing, or the JFK assassination to be exciting. An entire day can be spent going down a rabbit hole of theories from ludicrous to plausible.   

So, in a series of articles here on Drew FC, I am covering some of the conspiracy theories that are well-known and some that may not be too well-known to football fans.   

For this conspiracy theory, let’s tackle the brother of Manchester United legend Eric Cantona, Joel Cantona.

In the 1990s, no footballer in England was more famous than Frenchman Eric Cantona. The attacking midfielder/second striker arrived on English soil in 1992, signing for Leeds United. He helped the Elland Road outfit win the last First Division title, as English football closed out the old and ushered in the new shiny Premier League.   

Cantona was exactly what the new Premier League needed, an international star, to lead English football into a new era.    

While Eric Cantona was thriving at Old Trafford for Manchester United, winning every trophy imaginable and kung-fu kicking Matthew Simmons at Selhurst Park, his brother Joel was bouncing around clubs in France and Belgium.   

It isn’t uncommon to see a well-known player’s brother or son get opportunities thanks to their famous last name (Romeo Beckham). Joel Cantona was no different. Joel is around 18 months younger than Eric, and he may have enjoyed a football career thanks to his older brother’s reputation.   

Joel began playing with Marseille in 1984. After stop-offs at Rennes, Angers, Royal Antwerp, and La Rochelle, Joel Catona rocked up in Hungary for Budapest-based club Ujpest in July 1992.

The younger Cantona joined the Hungarians just weeks after Eric won the English First Division. Just a few months later, Eric would join Manchester United and become a key ingredient to Sir Alex Ferguson’s first wave of Premier League success.   

The defender played a mere five games for Ujpest in the Hungarian league, according to Transfermarkt, compiling 415 minutes of football. But a lack of playing time in Hungary, a country struggling with the move from Communism to Capitalism, didn’t stop England’s Peterborough United or Stockport County’s interest.

Joel, who had underachieved up to this point, received a trial from Peterborough United in the summer of 1993. Eric had just won the Premier League title with Manchester United, his second consecutive league championship. Eric was now a household name in England. He was everybody’s favourite Frenchman and the face of the Premier League.   

The Posh played in the First Division in 1993-94 (what is now known as the Championship). The club finished bottom of the table that season and was relegated to the Second Division (today’s League One).   

Peterborough fans allege that the club had no intention of signing Joel Cantona during the preseason but merely wanted to sell replica shirts with the name ‘CANTONA’ across the back.

According to conspiracy theorists, the Peterborough commercial department planned to use the name to bring in some income using the Frenchman. Unfortunately, before the shirts could be printed and sold in the club shop, the team’s management turned the defender away. Joel didn’t cut the mustard at London Road and subsequently moved to Stockport County.   

Stockport played in the Second Division in 1993-94. They went on to finish in the playoffs but lost in the final to Burnley 2-1. For those who aren’t familiar with the town, Stockport is a part of Greater Manchester. Joel’s more famous brother played football at Old Trafford just 11 miles away from Stockport’s Edgeley Park.   

According to a 1993 episode of Granada Soccer Night talk show (found on YouTube), Joel needed an interpreter to play in the Stockport reserves, because he couldn’t speak English. Of course, being the video is from 1993, the presenters, who are dated, to say the least, question why he would need an interpreter to play and help out on the field.

   

The reserves were as close to the first team as Joel got at Edgeley Park. Once again, conspiracy theorists allege Joel Cantona was signed to simply sell shirts, especially in a town in Greater Manchester.

According to Transfermarkt, Joel never played a first-team match for Stockport County – nor Peterborough – and went back to France and signed for Marseille in 1994.   

It feels like the moves of Joel Cantona are difficult to dissect. Modern football is all over the television, Internet, and newspapers, but football before the 2000s was a bit murkier. Some of Joel’s moves remind me of Carlos Henrique Raposo, a.k.a. Kaiser. I wrote about his biography, which is fantastic, not long ago.   

While the conspiracy theories around Joel Cantona aren’t as heavy as some others, it is a great place to start. It is also a little insight into the world of football during the 1990s and the career of a player, whose brother was on top of the world, winning Premier League titles with Manchester United. Why wouldn’t smaller English clubs attempt to make a quid or two off the player’s famous name by recruiting his brother?

Since retiring from football, Joel, like Eric, has been involved with acting and music. He is a forgotten player when it comes to football, like a ghost that quietly appeared before evaporating just out of sight. Joel Cantona may not have been as good as his brother, but clubs still (allegedly) tried to profit off his name.