Kung-Fu Cantona!

Eric Cantona attacks fan

Sometimes with great talent comes a little bit of craziness and this is certainly true in the case of Eric Cantona. It was 1995 and Manchester United were playing Crystal Palace needing a win to go top of the table. On this day Cantona's temper exploded twice within the space of a minute. Not long into the second half he received a straight red card for kicking out at Palace player Richard Shaw. And then as he was being escorted towards the tunnel, Eric suddenly jumped into the crowd with a wild kung-fu kick, followed by a quick few punches. On the receiving end of this attack was a 20 year old named Matthew Simmons, who had leapt from his seat to hurl abuse at Cantona.

For his troubles, Eric Cantona was arrested for assault and recieved 120 hours community service from the courts, an eight month ban and £10,000 fine from the Football Associaton and was also given a £20,000 fine from his club Manchester United.

Matthew Simmons was later fined £500 for threatening language and behaviour for his part in the incident.

Now let's see him in action.................

To make this story more bizaree Eric Cantona gave the following brief and mystifying interview after being convicted of assault..........

Despite this moment of madness in his career there were many moments of genius and it would not be fair to highlight the former without the latter, so here is Eric Cantona at his best..........