"A real sliding door moment" - Sheffield Wednesday regrets expressed over Eric Cantona decision | OneFootball

FLW's Owls Fan Pundit tells all about his club's biggest transfer regret.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Sheffield Wednesday's side from the early 1990s was one of the best in the club's history, and seems a far cry from their current situation.

The Owls won promotion back to the old First Division in the 1990/91 campaign, lifting the League Cup in the same season, proving their strength despite their second tier status.

Over the course of the next three years they would not finish below 7th in the top flight, taking 3rd place in their first year back.

It was a fantastic time to be a Wednesday fan, and there was a lot of ambition at the club to take it back to heights that had not been seen since the start of the 1960s.

However, they failed to capitalise on their excellent beginning to the decade and soon tumbled down the Premier League table to become a consistent, but not exciting, mid-table side.

Nevertheless, a decision made in 1991 perhaps still has Sheffield Wednesday supporters questioning 'What if?'

Eric Cantona was a missed opportunity for Sheffield Wednesday

The Owls returned to the top flight of English football during the final season of the First Division before it became the Premier League, and, unbelievably, they had a shot at the league title.

The Yorkshire club finished 3rd behind Manchester United and Leeds United, with the latter poaching a player that had been on trial with Wednesday in November 1991 - the name of that man was none other than Eric Cantona.

Football League World's Sheffield Wednesday Fan Pundit, Patrick McKenna, was asked which player he wished his team had signed after they were linked with a move to them, and why.

For the Owls supporter, there was only one choice, and that was the mercurial Frenchman, telling FLW: "With this, I think it's best if we go to the most infamous one regarding Sheffield Wednesday, and it's, of course, the time that we let Eric Cantona slip through our fingers before he signed for Leeds.

"We even had him at the club playing for us in an indoor tournament, but we wanted him to show us what he could do on grass and, of course, being Cantona, he took great offence to that and went off on the motorway to Leeds.

"Eric Cantona was one of the greatest players in the modern era of English football. Just look at the influence he had on his clubs."

Patrick continued: "In the 1991/92 season, when he went to Leeds instead of us, Leeds went on to win the league, and they were greatly influenced by his contributions and that season we finished 3rd.

"So, there's a sliding door moment where, if Wednesday had maybe won the league that season, what could have been if we had Cantona for a few seasons just at the start of the Premier League era?

"If one or two more league titles had been won, the possibilities for the club could have been endless in a way, and it wouldn't have been Cantona joining an average Sheffield Wednesday team. Our early 90s team is one of our greatest.

"You can only imagine adding Cantona to a team with the likes of David Hurst, John Sheridan and when Chris Waddle came in during the 1992/93 season. So, that is always going to be one you're going to look back on and think what if?

"What if Cantona came to us, and he never went to Manchester United? I will just always refer back to that one as a real sliding door moment in our club’s history, letting Cantona slip through our fingers."

Eric Cantona went on to make Sheffield Wednesday look silly with Man United exploits

While it probably does not need to be stated, there was possibly not a single club in the 1990s that would have turned down Cantona, with the Frenchman playing a key role in Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United teams throughout the decade.

He made 184 appearances for the Red Devils in just five years after leaving Leeds, playing only a season-and-a-half at Elland Road.

There were not many better goalscorers in the Premier League at the time, with Cantona scoring 84 goals in all competitions for United, winning the league title in all but one of his seasons at Old Trafford, but of course he was also a controversial figure - namely for his kung-fu kick at Selhurst Park in 1995.

Sheffield Wednesday will still regret the decision they made to not immediately make an offer for the then 27-year-old, and perhaps their success in the 1990s would have carried on for longer if they had.