Paolo Di Canio pushed a referee, in a Premier League match, on live television. It was Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal in 1998, and the Italian shoved Paul Alcock, who staggered backwards and went down in the most dramatic way possible.
The punishment was an 11-match ban and a £10,000 fine, one of the heaviest the Premier League had handed out.
What was the Di Canio salute row?
He gave a fascist salute to Lazio fans on more than one occasion, and it caused outrage well beyond Italy. He was fined, and he defended the gesture as a "Roman salute".
The striker played from 1985 to 2004 for Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, AC Milan, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton Athletic. At West Ham he scored a scissors kick against Wimbledon that still appears on lists of the best goals ever scored.
He was a genius and a madman in roughly equal measure. One week he was pushing referees, the next he was scoring goals that made grown men cry with joy. The most talented villain on this list? Maybe. The most controversial? Very probably.
Tomorrow: villain number 18.
