Terungkap, Isi Surat Pribadi Ferguson untuk Cantona

Melalui situs resminya, Manchester United, merilis surat pribadi yang dikirimkan sang mantan manajer, Sir Alex Ferguson, kepada striker legendaris Eric Cantona.

Ferguson merekrut Cantona dari Leeds United pada November 1992. Transfer sang pemain menghabiskan dana 1,2 juta pound.

Keputusan Ferguson membawa Cantona ke Old Trafford terbukti tepat. Penyerang asal Prancis itu menghadirkan empat gelar Premier League dan dua titel Piala FA.

Pada 1997, Cantona memutuskan pensiun. Saat itulah Ferguson mengirimkan sepucuk surat buat mantan anak asuhnya.

Surat tersebut berisi kesedihan Ferguson terkait keputusan Cantona pensiun. Ia pun tak lupa mengingatkan King Eric untuk rajin berolah raga.

Berikut ini surat yang dikirimkan Ferguson kepada Cantona pada 18 Agustus 1997.

Dear Eric,

Some months have passed since we last spoke and I felt that I should write to you as a mark of respect and esteem in which I hold you.

When we re-started training, I kept waiting for you to turn up as normal but I think that was in hope not realism and I knew in your eyes when we met at Mottram your time at Manchester United was over.

Although, I still feel you should have taken both your Father's and my advice and taken a holiday before making such a major decision.

One thing, I would like you to remember is to remain active and fit. I always remember when I finished at 32 and I started management, I was more concerned about organising training and the coaching of players that I forgot about my own fitness and then when I realised about six years later what was happening, I started to train again to recapture my fitness and it was murder, so you do need to keep your fitness.

I am sure you have been keeping an eye on our results and as you can see we are doing quite well as you know we have signed Teddy Sheringham to replace you but at the moment he is finding it difficult to find the space he got at Tottenham and is playing deep so we have some adjusting to do.

Players sometimes don't realise how difficult it is to play at our level as every game is a Cup Final for our opponents so I just hope he can do it for us.

Our pre-season tour wasn't too bad. The Far East tour was better than expected and our games against Inter Milan were very good. The Charity Shield wasn't a great performance but we were better than Chelsea and deserved to win, even though it went to penalties.

I still feel as we discussed at the end of the season that a top class striker is what is needed and that is always going to be the problem at our club as the financial restraints will always stop us getting the past because of our wage structure and it is such a pity because when you are at at the top you should buy the best to stop the others getting to you.