10 Things Eric Cantona Wants You To Forget

by Andrew Pollard

1. Kung-Fu Kicked A Fan

Yes, of course this is at the top spot of this list. In terms of misdemeanours, Eric Cantona did nothing more insane than attacking a supporter whilst playing for Manchester United against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. During the January 1995 match, Cantona was sent off for aiming a kick at Richard Shaw after the defender had pulled King Eric€™s shirt. Whilst Cantona was walking off the pitch, a fan by the name of Matthew Simmons threw a barrage of abuse at the red-carded French captain. Seeing red once more, Cantona aimed a kung-fu style kick at the fan and then followed up by swinging some punches at him. As for what prompted Cantona€™s astonishing attack, it€™s said that Simmons actually ran forward eleven rows in order to make some very language-heavy comments about Eric going back to France. Still, this doesn€™t justify Eric€™s response in the slightest. Punishment-wise, Cantona was arrested and convicted for assault, getting a two-week prison sentence that was overturned upon appeal. Instead he was given 120 hours of community service and eventually handed an eight month football ban and a £30,000 fine by the FA. Man Utd also fined him two weeks wages and he would be stripped of the French captaincy. By the time Cantona did finally return to the beautiful game, he found his position as France€™s playmaker being eased onto a young talent by the name of Zinedine Zidane and King Eric would never actually play for his country again. Despite this, Cantona has described his attack on the Palace fan as €œa great feeling€ on several occasions, even though he still admits that it was wrong and a mistake.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.