Eric Cantona's Manchester United genius gave Man City fans a lifetime of derby day dread

Hiya, City fan here coming in peace on derby weekend. How are the nerves?

That’s the thing about this game. No matter how much you pretend you care more about beating Liverpool and we pretend you all live in London, it gets in your bones. We all have a formative Manchester derby experience, something that colours what we think and feel about the fixture for the rest of our lives. In my case, the bi-annual stomach knot and nausea combination goes back to November 7, 1993 and Eric bloody Cantona.

It was my first as a season ticket holder but not my first derby. That distinction went to the 1-1 draw in March of that year, where Cantona cancelled out Niall Quinn’s second-half opener — two figures who loomed large over the derby at that time.

Incidentally, Cantona’s equaliser in that game was the first time I ever remember seeing my Dad really angry because Lee Sharpe appeared to be very clearly offside during the build-up. Football’s usefulness as a life glossary really is unparalleled.

The goal secured a point that would help United to their first league title since 1967, but City had also pushed for a European place before falling away. A couple of seasons earlier they’d finished above the Reds in the table and it generally seemed like a fair fight.

A little more than half a year later came a game that gave a far clearer indication of each club’s direction of travel and did much to bake in a grim fatalism for City fans of my generation.

United arrived at Maine Road on a run of 18 wins and a draw in their previous 20 league games (those sort of runs weren’t boring or didn’t ruin football back then, apparently). Their neighbours were getting used to life under Brian Horton and in the midst of boardroom ructions that