It was one of the most incomprehensible statements ever made by a football player.
When Eric Cantona said at a press conference in 1995, "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think the sardines are going to be thrown overboard," everyone was left scratching their heads, the Guardian reported.
What the hell did that mean? Was Cantona not only a star striker but also a philosopher? All he could say by way of explanation was: it means what it means.
Now, after decades of speculation and analysis, the 57-year-old said it was the first thing that came to his mind after being forced to speak to reporters. And his almost 30-year silence on the subject was a kind of revenge against the press, which, according to him, had "destroyed" him.
The ex-footballer turned photographer, actor, documentary filmmaker, sports coach, poet and now singer made his supposedly profound speech about seagulls and sardines after being ordered to speak to the press to explain his infamous kung fu kick on an offended Crystal Palace fan during an away game at Selhurst Park in January 1995.
Cantona was banned for the rest of the season and narrowly avoided being sent to prison for assault after a two-week prison sentence was reduced to community service. Still, the press had fun.
Manchester United were criticized for taking 36 hours to ban him, while the Mirror described it as "the night football died of shame" and called Cantona "crazy" and the Express accused him of "absolute thuggery before children". Brian Clough, the former Nottingham Forest manager, says of the player that he would "cut his balls off".
Over the next two days, the kick was televised 93 times. Cantona later said he had only one regret: "I wish I had kicked him harder."
Cantona appeared on popular French chat show C dans l'air this week to perform a song from her new album and laughed as she recalled how the phrase had sent the British press into a frenzy.
"After the court decision, they (Manchester United) wanted me to speak to the press. I didn't want to, but they said it was important that you should speak to the press. So I said: OK, I will speak to the press," the Frenchman said.
"They wanted me to talk, I talked. It just came out of my mouth and then I left. And the press, they all tried to make sense of it and make it all philosophical. You know, it just came out like that; maybe it came from my subconscious, and maybe unconsciously it made sense, but the best sense was: you make me talk, I talk, and who cares if the words make sense," he added.
Cantona, who scored 82 goals for United and won four league titles and two doubles, added: "You know, they (the press) destroyed me. But in a way I got my revenge. They were all trying to find meaning and asked me to explained, and I said nothing."
Seagulls appear in his song I Love You So Much from his recently released album Cantona Sings Eric. The song is dedicated to Manchester and he performed it to a rapturous crowd in the city last October at his first official concert.
"The people of Manchester have given me so much that I wanted to give something back. Manchester in the 1990s was Manchester United," Cantona told C dans l'air, adding: "We were rock stars. I grew up, spent time with the club that managed to become champions after 26 years without titles, it was such a city of hope and it still is now"./BGNES