Over a quarter-of-a-century on from Eric Cantona's infamous 'kung-fu kick', former Republic of Ireland captain and Premier League defender Kenny Cunningham recalled his thoughts about the incident on OTB AM just shy of its 25th anniversary in January 2020*.
It was an incident that resulted in Manchester United's Eric Cantona receiving a lengthy ban from playing for the club; despite calls from some that the French international ought to be departed.
Kenny Cunningham, a Premier League defender with Wimbledon at the time, is nevertheless unsure whether or not he was watching the match between United and Crystal Palace live that night.
Shown a red card by the referee after kicking Palace's Richard Shaw, Eric Cantona's long walk back to the dressing room was interrupted by a fan who travelled down 11 rows of stairs to hurl abuse at the departing players: "F*** off back to France, you French b*****d."
What followed remains one of the most remarkable scenes in the history of the Premier League, if not English football outright.
"If I was being honest with you," recalled Kenny Cunningham on OTB AM, "a little bit deep down I would have been thinking, 'ya, well played.'
"Once it became perfectly obvious nobody had been injured, I remember at the time having a little bit of sympathy for Eric Cantona, in all honesty.
A moment of madness that cost Cantona the French captaincy and damaged United's chances of securing a third Premier League title in succession, Cunningham, who had made the move from Milwall to Wimbledon a few weeks before, could empathise with the circumstances that resulted in Cantona acting as he did.
"There were those pictures of him walking off the pitch and getting verbally abused," he recalled, "and then he snapped.
"Look, nobody can excuse that [because] you've got to suck it up and that is part of professional football.
"But we are all human beings and we've all been in that situation on the football pitch and off it.
"Someone can be in your ear at the wrong moment and you can snap. For me, it was more of a human reaction.
A peripheral figure watching from the sidelines as Manchester United finished second to Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers in the 1994/95 season, Eric Cantona's return came the following season against Liverpool.
In a game that finished 2-2 at Old Trafford, Cantona provided an assist and goal for Alex Ferguson's side.
"The length of the ban was absolutely phenomenal," noted Cunningham, "and that was a shame because he was such an unbelievable player."
Ultimately, having served his ban and returned to United with great success, the spark that lit Cantona's famously short fuse was not excused by Kenny Cunningham.
"We've all had that a little bit [of abuse from fans] over the years: 'You French this, you Irish that, you Scottish thing'," he explained. "You've got to harden yourself to that and not take those things personally.
"But at the same time, I understand the fact that in a pressurised environment like that your head isn't in the right place.
"Somebody can just catch you at the wrong moment and one thing just sort of sticks and before you know it you're over the advertising boards and you're in there!"
You can watch Kenny Cunningham back in full here.
*This article was originally posted on January 17th, 2020.
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