5 dirtiest managers in football

If you're sitting at home thinking that the 22 players playing on the pitch are the only ones who can contribute to a dirty challenge or a nasty moment, ala Roy Keane on Alf-Inge Håland or more recently or Luis Suarez on Georgio Chiellini, you're wrong.

If you narrow it down, football is obviously 11v11 on the field (and, of course, the substitutes), but a lot of the mentality has something to do with the managers in the dugout. While the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are more immersed into barking out instructions from the touchline, there are a few managers who play a rather more cerebral game to get the result they want.

In this piece, we take a look at some of the managers who might get the results they want but have created an image of being a dirty ol' gaffer on the touchline.

#5 Alan Pardew

Although Alan Pardew was at one point in time touted as a future England manager, his stocks have fallen considerably in the last few seasons. While the ridiculous celebration against Manchester United after his side scored in the 2016 FA Cup final didn't help, Pardew is the only manager to have suffered seven successive defeats in the Premier League with three different Premier League clubs.

But what is perhaps worse than all that is his behaviour on the touchline. Calling Manuel Pellegrini a 'f***ing old c**t' was bad enough, but headbutting a player -- Hull City's David Meyler -- on the pitch? Downright unacceptable for a top-flight manager.

#4 Don Revie

Let's not kid ourselves, Don Revie is one of the top managers in the English first division. He won the Domestic league twice, the FA Cup and the Football League Cup as well.

Despite the success that pretty much defines Leeds even now, Revie was often criticised for his team's rather aggressive style of play. The psychological and physical implications of playing that Leeds side was massive back in those days. While the scars from the resulting tackles left a mark on you for the rest of your life, the mental defect it left was cumbersome.

Opposition players who squared off against Leeds knew what came their way. Take the case of Kevin Keegan for instance. In the 1974 Charity Shield game against Liverpool, Leeds United defender Billy Bremner had an ill-tempered clash with Keegan. Things didn't end well for either as both were sent off.

Although the Leeds side were under the managerial tenure of Brain Clough for that game, you could see that the Revie blueprint was still pretty active at Leeds.

#3 Nigel Pearson

Footballers and managers get paid quite a lot. So much so, that a few of them think they are impervious to any criticism and are above the fans, clubs they represent and the media representatives. While it's wrong to make such assumptions, any footballer who thinks he is above everyone else should take a second and think it's the fans' money they live on at the end of the day.

While we've had ample examples of players with their moments of shenanigans against the fans, at times, managers also cross the line. Take the example of former Leicester Cty manager Nigel Pearson.

Pearson's Leicester managed a lucky escape before going on to win the title, but it was a rather sombre story before the final few weeks of that season.

Pearson got into verbal altercations with both the fans and media representatives. In a home game against Liverpool that the Foxes eventually went on to lose, Pearson couldn't stand an abusive fan and told him to "f*** off and die" if he couldn't watch his side lose.

The response drew a lot of criticism and Pearson apologised after that. However, it didn't take long for him to get embroidered in another incident. In a press conference, Pearson accused a journalist of not knowing what he was talking about.

Pearson spoke about the criticism his players received after defeats and when journalist Ian Baker asked him about what the criticism was specifically, the former manager replied saying, "I think you must have either your head in the clouds, or been away on holiday, or reporting on a different team, because if you don’t know the answer to that question . . your question is absolutely unbelievable, the fact you do not understand where I am coming from. If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich. Your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand? Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no."

#2 Jose Mourinho

He's won it all, and yet he isn't the most popular manager out there. Firstly, the way his sides play at times infuriates the opposition fans and secondly, he's not a man who minces his words.

While many have sympathised with managers who have been the victim of Mourinho's outlandish tirades -- none more so than Arsene Wenger -- his worst moment on the touchline came in an El Clasico.

In the last decade or so, nothing had more TRP value than an El Clasico featuring Real Madrid under Mourinho and Barcelona under Pep Guardiola. In August 2011, the two teams took on each other in the Spanish Super Cup.

A dangerous challenge by Marcelo caused a fracas on the sideline and Mourinho was seen poking then Barcelona assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye! It was sort of a bizarre and petulant incident by a manager of Jose's reputation.

#1 Joachim Loew

The Germany boss is on this list for reasons entirely different to the previous four. While the others have mainly accused of stirring controversy in one way or another, Loew is on this list for a rather gross reason -- his personal hygiene on the touchline!

The man has won the World Cup with Germany and probably knows that in the modern day game, there are cameras everywhere on the pitch. Yet, he seems oblivious to everything and doesn't think twice before picking his nose or scratching his groin before shaking hands with opposing managers without caring.

When Loew was asked about his antics, he said, “I saw the pictures as well and obviously sometimes you do things subconsciously. It happened and I am sorry."

Edited by Shambhu Ajith