Kelly: “Paul Ince [who was also in court, facing a charge of common assault, on the same day], took him down in his car and they went out on the town. The tabloid press were there with their cameras and got them leaving Browns [nightclub]I think it was, at 3am. I wasn’t there, they went out without me. I drove down that night and the next day Maurice asked me where Eric was – he knew where they’d been because he saw the papers – and I don’t think that helped his case, to be honest.”
“We left the hotel, which was 60 or 70 metres away from the court and we had to run the gauntlet of the press. I just grabbed hold of his wrist and pushed my way through. We got him inside eventually and he was signing autographs.”
Cantona pleads guilty. The magistrate tells him: “You are a high-profile figure. The only appropriate sentence is two weeks’ imprisonment, forthwith.”
Watkins: “You could have heard a pin drop when the sentence was imposed. Then, as you can imagine, it was mayhem. Everybody was stunned. Even the prosecuting lawyer was very surprised at the decision of the bench because it ran counter to all the sentencing guidelines. One minute Eric was a free man, the next minute he was taken down to the cells. He was in the cells for three and a half hours.”
Kelly: “I think Eric was in a bit of shock. We all were. I followed him down the stairs with the prison wardens and we went in and sat down together in the cell. One of the old police officers said ‘don’t have the food in here; I’ll go and get you something from down the road’. So I gave him some money and he went down to McDonald’s and got some Big Macs and French fries so we ate that and had a good laugh about it.”
“I gave Eric my phone and he called his wife, and Marseille to tell his family. Then he said, ‘I can’t be bothered with this, I might be better if I just serve this 14 days and get it over and done with’. I said ‘no way, wait until Maurice gets back’.”
Watkins and his legal team apply for bail, which is turned down by the magistrate.
Watkins: “So we had to charge up to the Crown Court, which luckily wasn’t too far away. We lodged a notice of appeal and made an application for bail.”
The judge grants bail and sets an appeal hearing for the following week.
Watkins: “We didn’t have a lot of time to breathe but at least we got him out and back home and we could start work on the appeal.”
Kelly: “On the way back up we stopped at what used to be the Four Seasons at Manchester Airport and I said, ‘Do you fancy a beer at Mulligans?’. Eric had a couple of beers before I took him home.”