Ooh! Ah! Sunday's a special anniversary for Eric Cantona

23 January 2015 - 02:27
By © The Daily Telegraph and Sports staff

Sunday will mark 20 years since Eric Cantona's kung-fu kick on Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons - a moment of madness that stunned the football world.

Cantona, since ending his career at Manchester United in 1997, has gone on to a successful career as a film star, and from 2010 to 2012 was the director of soccer at New York Cosmos in the US.

Simmons, 20 at the time of the incident, was banned by Crystal Palace for the rest of the season.

In 2011 he avoided jail time for assault on a manager of his son's football team.

He was handed a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, plus ordered to undertake 150 hours of community service for attacking Stuart Cooper.

Simmons clashed with Cooper at a pre-season match following the latter's decision to drop Simmons's son from his under-8s side after learning of the Cantona incident.

Don't think Simmons will be celebrating the anniversary with a bottle of French Champagne, but King Cantona might.