7 explosive rants by famous football managers

What would you call a room full of football managers? An anger management workshop!But in all fairness, it would be a tad unfair to crack anger management jokes on a few grumpy old men with what is possibly the most stressful job in the world of football; managing a football team.It is not easy sitting in the dugout through 90 minutes of nerve-wrecking football matches followed by mandatory press conferences with irritating journalists asking uneasy questions. The stress itself is sure to open the emotional floodgates of even the most battle-hardened men of the footballing world.From the fiery rage of Sir Alex Ferguson to the ice picks of Jose Mourinho, the French frown of Arsene Wenger and down to the detailed lectures by Ian Holloway; managerial rants have graced football in every way and language possible.Most of the time, these tantrums are away from the public eye. But every once in a while, the mercury hits the ceiling and managers lose it out in the public and in front of the camera.This is a compilation of some classic rants by iconic football managers caught on camera.Disclaimer: The videos might contain objectionable language

#1 Jose Mourinho

The current Chelsea manager is known for putting on his tin-foil hat time and again and declaring the world is conspiring against his team. Be it as the coach of Real Madrid or Chelsea, the charismatic Portuguese manager claims to have uncovered deep lying conspiracies being hatched by every football governing body against him and his team.

Mourinho’s success in drilling his team to perfection before any match can only be paralleled by his ability to polish up his allegations. Each one seems to be better than the last. He is a treat to watch at his press conferences and it doesn’t get better than the ones where he takes his famous icy stabs at the authority.

Despite the Special One’s current crusade against the FA, our pick would be this classic dig as a Real Madrid coach against Barcelona and UEFA after a Champion’s League match. He even brings UNICEF into the plot!

#2 Sir Alex Ferguson

The most successful manager in the Premier League era was no stranger to acting up and his tantrums never disappointed. The most famous one ended with David Beckham getting a boot kicked at his head and being transferred to Real Madrid a year later.

Sky Sports journalist Geoff Shreeves found out exactly what it meant to be on Fergie’s bad side after questioning him on Cristiano Ronaldo’s diving allegations. Here is a transcript of the entire interview:

Shreeves: I asked him…

Ferguson: F***ing (inaudible) bastard.

Shreeves: Don't talk to me like that.

Ferguson: F**k off to you.

Shreeves: Don't talk to me like that. Don't even think about it.

Ferguson: Don't you think about it, you ****. F**k off. Right?

Shreeves: Listen, are you going to do the interview in a professional manner or not? Do you want to do it or not?

Ferguson: You f*****g be professional. You be professional. You're the one.

Shreeves: I'm entitled to ask… Cristiano gave the right answer.

Ferguson: F***ing hell with your answers.

Shreeves: Don't talk to me like that. Go away. If you want to behave civilly, fine. Don't talk to me like that.

Ferguson: F**k off. (door slams)

In the absence of any video of the above interview, we have to make do with a video of Sir Alex Ferguson just storming out of an interview, after a reporter suggested United were struggling in Europe.

#3 Rafa Benitez

Rafa Benitez, during his time at Liverpool, was a constant source for great rants. The Spaniard’s press conferences never failed to entertain and, more often than not, he would bring up Sir Alex Ferguson in his interviews.

Benitez’s obsession with the great Scot is on full display here. The context of the story is both entertaining and sad depending on which Red English club one supports.

Around the halfway mark of the 2008/09 season, Liverpool was sitting at the top of the League. Responding to a comment by Sir Alex, Benitez came out with a list of grievances against Sir Alex. Always trust Rafa to write down and read out his rants from a paper.

Full marks to Rafa Benitez on the research he did to prepare his ‘fact-sheet’. He accused Sir Alex of trying mind games and confirmed that his team would not fall prey. However, Liverpool slipped up and United nicked the title.

#4 Arsene Wenger

The Arsenal manager has never been shy of speaking his mind or getting into verbal rows with opposition managers. From defending his beliefs to attacking others’ claims, Wenger has done it all in his managerial tenure. He even got into a physical altercation with former West Ham United manager Alan Pardew, when the latter visited the Emirates. His emotional tantrums on the field are often directed towards helpless water bottles.

Wenger has endured some tough seasons in his Arsenal alongside a few successful ones and has always maintained a strict decorum in front of journalists. However, in this case Wenger decided to come out of his shell as ‘the Professor’ teach the journalists something about ethical journalism.

#5 Harry Redknapp

Every rant isn’t out of anger. Some are born out of love. Harry Redknapp, unlike most other managers, loves the media and loves giving interviews. The former QPR manager even rolls down his car window to give reporters the latest scoops on transfer deadline day.

This is a recorded proof of how much good ol’ Harry loves his screen time and how much he hates getting interrupted. The interview was being conducted at the Portsmouth training ground.

The guilty player turned out to be James Keene, a then Portsmouth player. Keene was shipped off to Sweden a few months after. Most probably his transfer was unrelated to this interruption, but we never know with Harry.

#6 Ian Holloway

No list of football rants is complete without the great Ian Holloway. The man might not have a trophy cabinet quite comparable to most of the other managers in the list, but he certainly can be up there with the best of them when it comes to rants.

The Englishman is a treat to listen to whenever on camera. The assortment of press conferences where ‘Honest Ian’ pours his heart out to the media is huge. This particular one has Ian Holloway taking it to the media as the Crystal Palace Manger. The question of Wilfred Zaha’s potential transfer to Manchester United in January 2013 seems to set Holloway off.

Zaha did complete his move in January 2013 and was loaned back to Palace.

#7 Louis van Gaal

The Dutch manager’s authoritative conviction is legendary. The current Manchester United boss will not back down if his beloved ‘philosophy’ comes under attack. Despite a trophy-laden successful career, the Dutchman seems to have a knack of falling out with the authorities and players in every club he has managed.

Perhaps Van Gaal’s most bizarre rant was when he was at the helm of Bayern Munich team. The eccentric Dutchman apparently dropped his pants in the dressing room to show all the Bayern stars that he had the ‘balls’ to drop any player from the team.

In this case, Van Gaal called the most unorthodox press conference to defend his Manchester United team’s playing style after West Ham coach Sam Allardyce accused the Red Devils under Van Gaal of being a ‘long ball team’.

Van Gaal came armed with a four page dossier containing statistics and diagrams and invited the media to copy and hand his ‘facts’ to Big Sam. Dutch philosophy doesn’t care much about English humour, it seems.