Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, … Read Full Bio ↴Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer and former professional soccer player. After his career in sports he focused mostly as an actor in French cinema, having had his first role as a rugby player in Le bonheur est dans le pré, shot during his 1995 suspension from football. In the late 1990s, he accepted a role as a French ambassador in the English film 'Elizabeth' (1998). In 2002, he directed a short film, 'Apporte-moi ton amour'. In January 2020, Cantona played The King in the music video for Liam Gallagher's single 'Once'. June 2023 saw Cantona's début as a recording musician under his own name with the single, 'The Friends We Lost'.

When The Seagulls Follow The Trawler
Eric Cantona Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Eric Cantona:

Epilogue Un jour, peut-être pas le jour le plus froid du…
The Friends We Lost Watch the trees when the others fall The hall of love…
Tu me diras Les ombres se dessinent Le soleil noir La beauté des cimes L…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

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Comments from YouTube:

@SkySportsRetro

4y↑151

Let us know which classic Sky clips you want to see next!

@joshuapettinger6237

4y↑2

Agueroooooooooooooo

@joshuapettinger6237

4y↑1

Rafahcts

@joshjerrome8227

Agueeerrrrroooo

@joshjerrome8227

Watford v Leicester

@joshjerrome8227

Kompany v Leicester

6 More Replies...

@renato7611

3y↑1.7K

He's calling the press a bunch of seagulls and they are expecting sardines. People he's not that out there, he's just actually literate as a footballer.

@AH-be6bu

3y↑143

He's calling them stupid as well. Seagulls can easily go and look for their own fish instead of hanging around trying to get someone else's.

@weakypickin5059

3y↑43

I'm guessing the sardines symbolise the juicy news stories they chase.

@osousa17

3y↑18

No, he's trolling. This doesn't mean Jack. He said it later in an interview I think

@tiadaid

2y↑28

@João It's funny how even when he's trolling, there's deep meaning to it!

@YoungJustice1997

2y↑9

When I was a kid i never understood what he meant now at 23, it's so obvious lol

21 More Replies...

@gizmobelle7342

3y↑447

Man he was in a league of his own doing this during a 90s press conference for kicking a fan and come out more of a hero iconic

@louisdnd934

4y↑1.5K

The sip of water is perfect 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

@StingWolfpack

4y↑26

i thought it was scotch haha

@sidvyas

3y↑11

When the seagulls gulps XD

@smokeloc73

3y↑15

He added that sip for more effect for sure

@marvaff6878

2y↑3

Never fails 🤣🤣🤣

@kiriakoz

2y↑11

It made it ten times better. It showed even when being followed by the gutter press relentlessly, he was still at ease.

3 More Replies...

@ViviPain

44w↑68

One of the very few footballers I know who actually went forward with their hobbies and passion after retiring from football. He's an actor, singer and poet now.

@ImMata

3y↑333

I love how he speaks so cryptically, you won’t understand in that moment but later you’ll realise he just insulted you to your face

@pablohanc

3y↑45

Everyone with even the smallest amount of intelligence knew immediately what he was saying.

@-Muhammad_Ali-

1y↑11

One must be extremely dumb not to understand what he said from the first sentence

@sonicdiablo8968

Anyone who thinks that what he said is cryptic, has the IQ of a shoelace.

@merrymonarch

With this quote he really burst onto the scene

@pablohanc

28w

@@hoarder1919 but at least you have a carer whose helped you use the internet. If I was religious I'd say a prayer for you.

@ciaranwalsh96

3y↑1.2K

"If a Frenchman goes on about seagulls, trawlers and sardines, he's called a philosopher. I'd just be called a short Scottish bum talking crap." - Gordon Strachan.

@Quantik53

3y↑25

You would not my friend if you were having a cider here, by the sea, watching seagulls on one shore of Brittany, you would be called by no name other than yours. Remember Hartlepool.

@harrytaylor1887

3y↑9

The is words order of important, Gordon

@mysteryman3963

3y↑2

@Quantik53 wtf

@Quantik53

@Mystery Man tf answers w.

@craigbass2060

3y↑1

@Quantik53 I need this place I'm from America the brainless anthive

12 More Replies...

@buster76246

3y↑166

I remember this incident very clearly and understood exactly what E C was referring to when he used this metaphor. The English tabloids back then were known as the gutter press, they even went out of there way to find reasons no matter how trivial to discredit there own national team leading up to and during international competitions. The vast majority of the gutter press could barely write proper English yet still expected foreign players to answer there dumb ass and repetitive questions like they had been speaking English all there lives, Enough said.

@SYED7JUNAID7ALI7

2y↑4

Their*

@garethwilkinson3456

2y↑4

Their. An honest mistake in the internet age.

@avitohol-ts4jn

2y↑1

absolutly agree with you

@delmarfo

4y↑731

It's the sip of water that gets me all the time 🤣🤣🤣🤣

@james_44

4y↑40

It's comedy genius. The timing is sensational.

@simonemasetti6114

4y↑18

What a legend. This is the best press conference of all time

@gbengaogunsanya5284

4y↑24

Power pause

@Voxac100b

3y↑4

@Gbenga Ogunsanya classic 🤣

@Subsbench

28w

@@simonemasetti6114it's definitely up there with Roy Keane ranting about phones going off or one of his players missing a match due to his Mrs giving birth, can't remember who it was (well, why wouldn't he be available? He's not having the baby is he?), and Gordon Strachan going on about a yoghurt being more of a priority than Delgado. I'm sure there's more but those are quality 😂

2 More Replies...

@shaynemac

3y↑73

Absolutely nothing bizarre about this.. one of the only sport press conferences that’s made perfect sense

@rikmukherji

4y↑583

Insulted them to their face and they didnt realize; just did the exact same thing he was making fun of.

@eoinbrennan3949

2y↑4

Jesus did the same thing to the pharisees when he told them the parable of the vineyard.

@franciskarma7139

3y↑83

He even managed to squeeze in a sip of water 🤣💦. Legend!!!

@jt4380

30w↑1

Those were the days, absolute baller of a player and the press conference topped it off, legend

@romanista9776

3y↑64

For those who didnt get it...he was referring media as seagulls...Sardines as the quotes he is supposed to say to media in defense and the trawler is eric cantona himself.

@greencliff0817

3y↑6

Big brain

@luiscaetano6184

2y↑4

When the media follows Eric Cantona... the quotes... will be srown... into the sea

@recruitmentch

2y↑22

The journalist laughing was actually breaking into tears, when he realised they were the desperate seagulls.

@darshmenon0008

2y↑46

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea" - the best quote of all time. It took me 2 years to understand the meaning of this quote and its philosophy.

@guy5140

2y↑2

Please explain your conclusion

@marcusloughman5013

2y↑31

@Waris Shah Baba its a very simple metaphor, the press are like the seagull looking for the fish, or in this case a story to sell in the news paper, Eric is the trawler, the press think he'll play right into their hands and give them a headline, hence they are like the seagulls who follow said trawler, but the seagulls are not the brightest and the trawler trows them nothing because it doesn't benefit from doing so. So Eric is basically saying "you think I'll give you a headline or story but I won't". Ironically his quote is a perfect headline just from sheer bizarreness at first but once you see the meaning behind it, it becomes a clever social commentary on journalism, published in every major British newspaper. He uses the media to warn people about the media, pretty clever if you ask me. Plus both sides benefited, Eric made his point clear and even got nicknamed the "philosopher" and the British press got their story so all in all, draw I'd say.

@user-uh6lm5wv6n

29w

Its for sure a nice quote, but for me the most profound, and deeply mysterious part of this was the placement of the water sip

@safebans1369

28w↑2

2 years bloody hell mate don't try your hand at countdown 😂 only joking

@adammac4960

2y↑27

He’s a genius. He describes 90 percent of humanity perfectly

@arturovelasquez2767

39w↑4

What does it feel like being within the 10 %, wise man?

@Jheezee93

43w↑4

What a poet, harder bars have never been dropped.

@BlueMillStudios

1y↑2

This was the exact moment I fell in love with Eric Cantona :) Utter Legend :)

@RobHawthorn

1y↑1

Absolute classic! Way to stick it to the press

@AM-ey5tc

4y↑48

Even as a Liverpool fan I wish I was alive when Cantona was playing in the premier league, he sounds like an entertaining fellow lol.

@flyingjibberish

3y↑19

Football all round was better then, many more entertaining players. Mediocre teams had entertaining players like Le Tissier, Wanchope, Juniniho etc. It started really dying When Chelsea sold out to a Russian Billionaire.

Murdoch tried to buy Utd in 1998, it was blocked on the basis it would unfairly monopolize one club. Now, that sort of thing happens and no one cares. That's how much football has changed.

@rohithraman6488

@flyingjibberish Why are you talking as if Chelsea were the first team to have investment? Arsenal in the 1920s were known as the Bank of England club for the lavish spending of Henry Norris. Also Chelsea still have a soul, it's still engrained within the club, every big club has had investment in their history.

@rohithraman6488

@flyingjibberish I mean Newcastle have one of the most entertaining players in the league

@rohithraman6488

@flyingjibberish Chelsea still have a soul

@binghamguevara6814

4y↑544

"When the seagulls [sips water] follow the trawler ... ... it's because they sink ... ... sardines ... will be srown ... ... into the sea" Legend.

@elinelly-ricky979

4y↑12

Big time legend!!! 🤣🤣🤣

@MALITH666

4y↑19

absoloutely nussink tsu say.

@rohithraman6488

3y↑7

@Malith Loki Melkor If I speak I am in big trouble. BIG BIG trouble.

@abdirisakadem2798

3y↑4

When the seagulls follow the trawler it’s because they sink sardines will be srown into the sea Legend

@kostasjelo1719

*ze *ze *zey *ze 😂

1 More Replies...

@johncollins1266

44w

This man is a legend….

@Rolian10

3y↑42

That sip and pauses in between, a genius! 😂😂

@merrymonarch

Timing was great on and off the pitch

@Potatochief

3y↑4

He is such a legend

@melissafulton-rennie4867

2y↑2

He was absolutely right. I love Cantona 👍🏻

@MrPSG78

4y↑212

Bizarre? Are you kidding? When journalists (I should call them "sensationalists" actually) are being criticized for their lack of behavior and are only looking for the next scandal to write about, it's "bizarre".
Nothing's bizarre here, the message's pretty clear for the press and so-called journalists.

@bryanleeyf87

4y↑14

Journalists are full of shit and skysports are no different with clickbait and crap headlines written by millennials.

@petelashley

4y↑1

Well said!

@ammarhaziq919

Because what Cantona means by seagulls and sardines is seagulls is buch of journalist who follow Cantona (trowler), and expect him to throw some controversiol comments (sardines).

@kumandalawrence5763

Thank you. Now I get it.

@Mrfairchap

3y↑1

A perfect metaphor from Eric. He is actually likening the gutter press to a pack of hyenas following a wounded animal, but the use of the sardines metaphor is even more subtle. But of course, he's completely mad, you know...

@danielwilder7835

3y↑7

greatest press conference speech ever, bar none, supreme!

@TheManamba

2y↑2

I take deep satisfaction in knowing that this interview will haunt journalists for decades to come.

@jngobngo

2y↑2

Before my time, but this moment is surreal. If only we could understand the world like our King

@akadapper

2y↑1

Nothing bizarre about this. It still rings true today.

@johnnyboy4176

3y↑8

I lost it when he took a sip of water😂

@pierrem6056

1y↑1

I am a seagull and I approve this message.

@tobetrayafriend

2y↑2

You have to admire his presence of mind here

@davidrhodes4001

Eric talks what he thinks of the press.Not much I should imagine.

@nirvana454

42w↑1

He just smacks down the reporters and leaves. Perfect.

@swinephrog6428

3y↑23

The way he says sardines is incredibly satisfying

@plebonhomme6982

2y↑3

"Personne n'a compris ce qu'il a dit mais tout le monde sait qu'il avait le droit de le dire"

@julSlash

21w

The face of the two guys after the first word pronounced by cantona "We either dead or legends"

@nobad6134

4y↑1

Bloody legend.

@chriskennedy8033

3y↑1

This metephor couldn't be anymore fitting for journos, Eric the king 👑

@visualtherapist4290

4y↑4

Yeah, I mean, media spun it as bizarre because they either did not know what he was talking about, or they knew he was talking about them, and wanted to make him seem like some sort of mad man, thus, doing exactly what he was implying in this video.

@amarulatore59

2y↑1

People laugh but in fact this was beautiful

@noneofyourbusiness1199

2y↑2

I'm amazed at how many people completely miss the genius in what he said, and think it was just a load of rubbish.

@urworstbestfriend

3y↑2

Perfectly said better than an actor twentytwentyone George Orwell's worst nightmare Eric was clever to say that

@420johonig

3y↑3

That whole thing was perfection

@babalarassrah

19w

that charisma

@Bianco5555

pure genius! very funny

@johncusato7979

21w

Eric Cantona was a great player for Man U. Merci.

@CozzaPerks

3y↑26

Calling the media seagulls lol more like vultures but we understand Eric 👍

@marty6945

Unlike seagulls, vultures do not have the opportunity to relish sardines.

@dwsy87

2y↑3

Imagine farting on your enemy’s face and yet they are just laughing silly 🤣

@sebastientardivel8179

2y↑2

They laughed because it was the best description of the situation. Cantona was not happy to be the "trawler" but I think most of the journalists were'nt happy to be the "seagulls" either. Most of them are just poor guys who forced to churn out articles. The speech was like "breaking the fourth wall": "You guys, are here to play your part and you expect me to play my part". But in the end, it satisfied everybody: Cantona did not have to answer any awkward questions or to justify anything and the medias got the sardin they expected. A big fish. Because this quote was surely more interessant for the medias than anything else he could have said. We still talk about it.

@akitsuki71

3y↑8

in a interview Eric reveals the meaning of his sentences: there was just none :) he just said what was going through his mind without making any sense.

@RocketCalcutta

Though Cantona did say, in an interview with Jonathon Ross, that his words meant nothing, he also went on to explain that he wanted to put up a mirror in front of the press. According to Maurice Watkins, Man U's legal advisor at the time, Cantona prepared his statement very carefully beforehand, asking the legal rep what the english words were for fishing boats and the birds that fly above them.

@RocketCalcutta

Here's Cantona's full response to Ross's question: “It means nothing,” he said. “I put a mirror in front of the journalists. Afterwards, people tried to analyse the words.”

@messoussiahmed9910

28w

the GOAT

@laoch5658

he was talking about journalists and you tried to call him crazy. what he said made perfect sense

@tinyspeaker

4y↑561

Was pretty obvious what he was saying tbh. Not even slightly bizzare.

@GamingCentral2002

4y↑11

No it was very bizarre.

@postrock3374

4y↑74

@Ryan Nicholson Only because you're an idiot.

@aaronbasaria7676

3y↑1

Yeah it was obvious what he was saying but why was he talking about that in the first place?😂

@borissmalov5085

3y↑20

@Aaron Basaria he karate-kicked a racist fan

@leafsinseven

3y↑121

@Aaron Basaria He's making a metaphor. The seagulls (media) are following the trawler (Cantona) because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea (the media think Cantona is gonna give them a good headline in the interview)

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@aminbrahimi8499

23w

That sip of water made the quote so much cooler

@Yunghamz

27w↑2

He was just prophesying the rise of brighton and hove albion's efforts in the league

@ddesouza4641

Only eric could pull this off

@joltee9317

I can't imagine the one dimensional nothing-people footballers nowadays saying something as insightful as this

@baronantoine

3y↑35

I think there's a typo here.
You wanted to type "legendary", but you typed "bizarre"

@leftmodernist5210

32w

He threw them the biggest, juiciest sardine ever

@jonathanruano4973

2y↑1

I think the "seagulls" comment is Cantona's way of saying that the soccer hooligan deserved to be kicked. In the analogy, the soccer hooligan is the seagull, Cantona is the trawler, and the sardines are the kicks and punches hurled by Eric Cantona. Thus, the soccer hooligan (seagull) went out to meet Eric Cantona (the trawler) with the expectation of being kicked (sardines).

@kumandalawrence5763

I doubt if this is the meaning. If it is, then it is very literal.

@dearmejoel

King Cantona! 😊

@callumcruickshank5236

39w

Iconic👑

@MaverickLee11

29w

How is that bizarre? he literally called all the media seagulls.

@ryansmith6786

Who knew years later it would be revived again by a “just do it” guy who played in Even Stevens and the first three Transformers movies lol.

@seancollins6524

I never watch football, but that's funny stuff

@rohithraman6488

3y↑1

It may sound bizarre but it was actually directed at the media, it was clever

@AllMadeVlogs

Cantona Went Zlatan mode before Zlatan was a professional 😂

@hadid1092

46w

Whoever qualified this as 'bizarre' is just seething at being called what they are.

@boodanoo

Great metaphor! I'll be using this in my future English classes...

@martyfree2389

33w

Ownage by Cantona😂

@worganfreeman2694

Nothing bizarre about this. What he said was spot on.

@400Awesomo

Who’s here after Eric Cantona has been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame?

@jcvd4903

This men is a f genius, Éric on t’aime

@lowrytv6736

2y↑1

People forget that footballers can be very intelligent too, lots of them have major degrees in Science.

@HpPmL

😂 no.

@ronaldjames723

Legend

@pillarsofdoom4891

3y↑1

Who is this bizarre? Seagulls follow the trawler is the press filling Eric for handouts. Scavengers harassing the master for left overs

@aydenkhan6735

this made me cry

@Amit-ov3or

Sky Sports…it’s not bizarre, the guy is intelligent. What is bizarre is you keeping Jamie 2 left feet Carragher on your books even after his SPITGATE SCANDAL. Now that’s BIZARRE!

@paulname9094

29w↑1

He admitted year's later it meant nothing he just made it up as he went along 😂

@wujean8281

Long live the king

@arkrde

A subtle burn. Wow.

@pawntakespawns3699

24w

In an interview in french Cantona said later that this sentence means absolutely nothing

@redcanvasltd3267

Shia LeBeouf went to onto replicate this exactly as Cantona did it, including the sip

@comredazhar723

2y↑2

Seagulls= journalists
Trawler= FA/United
Sardine= Him
🙃

@maartenpeters4213

Ferguson for life!

@seancollins6524

Allways makes me laugh

@meneurdujeu

The seagulls follow the trawler, and get scraps thrown to them by people fishing for the better fish.

@JohnSmith-mu9iu

4y↑1

this guy speaks pure waffle

@acb7074

4y↑13

Read between the lines. Poetry in motion.

@Alfairyman1

4y↑5

Sure if you have sub 80 iq

@AxeDharme

4y↑4

You're dumb AF if you didn't understand him.

@AxeDharme

4y↑1

@HITMAN FLASH yes everyone else is a fool. You alone the genius(/s).
There's a lot of meaning behind his words, even if it's random and Outta the blue.

@ahmadjaber1719

Idk for sure but I think the seagulls are the media. The trawler is Cantona. And the sardines are his quotes (basically they wanted him to say something stupid to use it against him) and ofc the trawler doesn’t throw sardines.

5 More Replies...

@Nobody12368

3y↑1

I’m here after 2-0 Manchester United win against Manchester City 😂 😂 😂

@splitz5308

I saw a quick video of Shia Labeouf saying the same thing in an interview and dipped brruuuuhhh this is insane

@dcw127

"When the seagulls..." - Eric Cantona

@Christian_Bagger

He is not wrong!

@johnsnow4728

4y↑9

The king 😈

@carlosromero5564

What a savage!!!!

@alexandervonkarnstein

He was to big for the Football-Business.

@pfx2259

4y↑4

Football is a kung fu and that’s all I do

@Daveonarave

4y↑5

One more blow to that Palace fan mentioning seagulls...

@jack-ew1us

3y↑2

Very underrated comment 🤣

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