Magnificent Sevens

On a wet May morning in 1997 Eric Cantona collected his belongings from Old Trafford and walked out of Manchester United for good. The man who had been the catalyst in bringing the league title back to the club after a tortuous 26-year wait left as engimatically as he had arrived five years earlier, simply saying he did not want to play football any more. It had been a thrilling era, often monumental in terms of trophies, often remarkable in terms of his skill and individual displays, often controversial and harrowing, as with his kung fu assault on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995. Never was it dull, never was it predictable, and never was it boring. Cantona carved a niche in the hearts of United fans everywhere - arguably even more so than Denis Law in the Sixties - and became the undisputed King of Old Trafford. He was built to grace the Theatre of Dreams with his supreme confidence, swagger and, some would claim, arrogance. The Frenchman made the number seven shirt his own and he certainly lived up to its magical billing as the shirt worn by the club's legends - and, more often than not, its bad boys. Once, the intimate Georgie Best, and then the lion-hearted Bryan Robson had worn it. After Cantona, David Beckham would clain the coverted shirt. Finally, it would be the turn of Cristiano Ronaldo. In this authoritative and fascinating book, Frank Worrall takes a look behind the facts and fiction of the five men who have worn the shirt with the most distinction. With the help of players, journalists and a psychologist he analyses what made Best, Robson, Cantona, Beckham and Ronaldo tick and assesses their credentials for a permanent place in the Old Trafford Hall of Fame. He looks at how, ten years after the tragedy, Best finally ripped away the cobwebs of Munich by winning the European Cup almost single-handedly for United; how Robson battled manfully to lift United at a time when they were mired in mediocrity; how Cantona turned the club back into winners after that long, dismal spell in the wilderness; how Beckham's stardust led to the end of Sir Alex Ferguson's personal holy grail with that audacious European Cup win in 1999, and how Ronaldo has offered hope and glitter to a United in transition. He also explains how the darker side to the five men fuels their tunnel-visioned obsession to succeed, how their mischief so often goes hand in hand with their success and how it made them entertainers they are: Best going AWOL and subsequently being sacked by Docherty; Robson's booze sprees; Cantona's aggression; Beckham's bling culture, spoilt-boy fits and fall-outs with Ferguson and Ronaldo's wicked winks. This is the full, no-holds-barred story of Manchester United's own Magnificent Sevens - the good, the bad and the ugly Ö

Frank Worrall is a journalist who writes regularly for The Sunday Times, The Sun and Four-FourTwo magazine. He is also the auhor of the No1 bestseller Roy Keane: Red Man Walking and Rooney: Wayne's World.