European football is slowly getting back to normal after 2018 festivities. La Liga and Ligue 1 returned last weekend to join Premier League club who were busy in 2019 FA Cup third round. Today, we want to shift our attention to the worst player-coach fights. Jose Mourinho was recently sacked after his relationship with Paul Pogba deteriorated. There were other reasons but his failure to get the best out of such a key player made his continued stay untenable. Let’s see who else found himself in such a situation in recent years.
6. Van Gaal against Rafael- Man United
Rafael Da Silva was enjoying his football at Manchester United until Dutch Coach Louis Van Gaal arrived at the club. The two did not get along well and according to the defender, it has nothing to do with his performance. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich Coach did not like Brazilians after a poor relationship with a few of them during his time at Camp Nou.
Rafael said:
“I know that he didn’t like me, but if that’s because I’m Brazilian, I don’t know.
“I know this history that he doesn’t like Brazilians, but I can’t say ‘Oh, he doesn’t like Brazilians’
“I don’t know, sincerely. I don’t know what to say about that, because I was the only one since Anderson left before.”
“I did the complete season when he [Ferguson] left. In 2012-13 I played almost every game, it was my best season at United, we were even champions.
“And that’s when they changed the manager. That change was fatal for me. I was going well, then Ferguson left.
“That’s what changed, so Valencia started playing as a right-back for Van Gaal. He’s also a great player, but I was doing well in that position.”
5. Mick McCarthy against Roy Keane- R. Ireland
In 2002, Republic of Ireland Captain Roy Keane was not happy with his Coaching staff. The no-nonsense Manchester United star at the time wanted to quit the national team few hours after arriving in Japan for World Cup. The reason was simple, they wanted the players to train on the same day they arrived after a tiring 17 hours journey from Europe.
The midfielder agreed to stay after a phone conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson but later he spoke to the media. The Coach coincidentally arrived when he was speaking to the press and the skipper rage was directed towards him.
“I didn’t rate you as a player,” Keane said.
“I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person. You can stick the World Cup up your b*******.”
4. Ruud Gullit against Alan Shearer- Newcastle
Premier League all-time best scorer Alan Shearer once made a manager get sacked. The Newcastle United legend did not rate Dutch Coach Ruud Gullit and the Coach did not fancy him either. The two were involved in a tug of war and this time the player won. The tipping point was a 2-1 defeat against local rivals Sunderland in 1999/2000 season. The Coach had decided to drop the famous striker and the fans were not happy after the defeat. The AC Milan and Chelsea legend was sacked shortly after the game.
Gullit said:
“It was plain he didn’t want to play for me. I told him to his face he was the most overrated player I have ever seen.”
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