Eric Cantona FINALLY explains what his famous ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler…’ comment was all about nearly 30 years after baffling football fans

‘If the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines are being thrown into the sea.’

It is a phrase that has left football pundits around the world baffled for almost three decades as they attempt to decipher the hidden sentiment within it.

But Eric Cantona has now revealed that the cryptic comment, made after he was tasked with explaining his infamous ‘kung-fu kick’ to a foul-mouthed Crystal Palace fan in 1995, was nothing more than just the first thing came into his head.

The former Manchester United striker, who has forged new artistic paths as an actor, photographer and singer since hanging up his boots, said there was no deep philosophical meaning behind the comment.

Instead, it was just a spontaneous, nonsensical utterance designed to snub journalists at a press conference he didn’t want to attend.

And his silence on the issue for the past 29 years was a form of ‘revenge’ to frustrate the media. He felt it went too far in vilifying him for resisting abuse.

Speaking to French chat show C dans l’air this week, Cantona said: ‘I didn’t want to, but (Manchester United) said it’s important you have to talk to the press.

“So I said, OK, I’ll talk to the press, in the sense that they want me to speak – I’ll say anything.

“You know, (the press) destroyed me. But in a way, I’ve had my revenge. They all tried to find a meaning and they all asked me to explain it, but I didn’t say anything.’

Cantona delivered the kick that made headlines around the world during United’s away match against Crystal Palace in January 1995.

After being sent off for a challenge on Palace defender Richard Shaw, Cantona was staggering off the pitch to the dressing rooms in the corner of Selhurst Park when he heard Palace fan Matthew Simmons launch a foul-mouthed tirade in his direction.

In a fit of rage, Cantona sprinted to the stands and leapt over the barrier, landing a perfectly placed kick with his studded boots and cracking Simmons with a few well-aimed punches before being dragged away.

Simmons, then a 20-year-old self-employed glazier, was sentenced to seven days in prison for threatening and insulting behavior and had his season ticket revoked by Palace for ‘breaching the basic rules’.

But he was suspended by his club, stripped of his captaincy with the French national team and banned from football for nine months.

He was initially sentenced to prison, but on appeal the sentence was commuted to community service.

Cantona said in 2021 that he did not regret the kick and that if something was wanted he could have done more damage.

‘I have been insulted thousands of times and never responded, but sometimes you are vulnerable.

‘I regret one thing. I would have liked to have kicked him even harder. I received a nine-month suspension. They wanted me to be an example,” he said.

But even then he refused to open up about his bogus philosophical statement, which he made to the press after his appeal hearing at the Croydon District Court.

During his interview at C dans l’air, where he performed a song from his new album ‘Cantona sings Eric’, the former footballer said: ‘They wanted me to speak, I spoke. It just came out and then I left. And the press tried to make sense of it all and make it all philosophical.

“You know, it just came out that way; maybe it came from my subconscious and maybe it subconsciously created a meaning, but the best meaning of it was: you let me speak, I speak and who cares if the words make sense.’

The comment itself is now part of the lyrics to his song ‘I love you so much’, a song he says is dedicated to the city and the people of Manchester.

“(The people of Manchester) have given me so much, I wanted to give something back,” he told the talk show.

‘Manchester in the 1990s was Manchester United… We were rock stars. I grew up, spent time with the club that was successful and winning after 26 years without titles, it was such a hopeful city and still is.”