"Idiotic" Cantona told to stop meddling in economics

Cantona: Banks must be "destroyed"

In another crazy example of a footballer suffering from a 'delusion of grandeur', Eric Cantona has called for a 'run' on French banks!

Yes, the former Manchester United star-turned-actor, an occasional philosopher, and convicted 'fan attacker' is now a wannabe economist!

Cantona has called on millions of his compatriots to withdraw their money from French banks in an interview that has since become a Youtube hit and spawned a facebook page - claiming that banks had caused "misery" around the world and must be "destroyed"!

But Cantona's idea was branded "stupid in every sense" and a charter for thieves by the French Banking Federation.

Spokeswoman Valerie Ohannesian said: "It is totally idiotic. If Mr Cantona wants to take his money out of the bank, I imagine that he'll need quite a few suitcases."

Even France's most radical left-wingers found Cantona's bank run a little too revolutionary. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the firebrand leader of The Party of the Left said: "I don't know if we would gain much by a general and instant collapse of the system. I approach things differently, with elections, with programmes."

Whether Cantona, a multi-millionaire, fully understands the anti-bank movement to which he has attached himself is certainly open to question.

A 'run' might have worked 20 years ago but money today is largely electronic, with cash playing a very small part of banking operations. And, of course, in France and other European countries there are daily limits on the amount of cash customers can withdraw.
He has called for the 'run' on December 7th - given that reality, there are going to be several thousands of people rushing from one empty ATM to another that day!