After an unfavourable result, a football manager’s misery does not end at the full-time whistle, as they then must explain to the world what went wrong.
From Joe Kinnear’s X-rated rant which saw him use over 50 profanities in six minutes to Jose Mourinho’s demand for ‘respect’ when he was in the hotseat at Man United, the Premier League has seen some heated exchanges between managers and reporters.
Mikel Arteta’s post-match tantrum after Arsenal’s draw with Man United on Sunday was the latest example of a manager losing their rag at the press.
The Spaniard hurried out of a TV interview when he was asked about Arsenal’s fading title hopes following the result. The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford and now trail table-toppers Liverpool by 15 points with a game in hand.
Reporter Patrick Davison stopped Arteta leaving his post-match interview once to ask a final question about the title race, but the Spaniard refused to answer and made a hasty exit.
Here, Mail Sport have taken a look at five more times where managers have lost their cool and snapped at reporters.
Mikel Arteta stormed out of his post-match press conference after Arsenal’s draw with Man United
The Gunners are now 15 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool after suffering a 1-1 draw
Joe Kinnear (Newcastle) – October 2008
Starting off light, let’s look at Kinnear’s rant towards reporters in his first official press conference as Newcastle interim manager back in 2008.
Kinnear was furious at the media as he felt slighted by what had been written about him after his appointment. The general sentiment on Tyneside was that Kinnear was a temporary placeholder at the helm, while former owner Mike Ashley looked for an appropriate permanent replacement.
On Kinnear’s first day in charge, the Newcastle squad were given a couple of days off as Ashley tried to find a buyer for the club. Simon Bird, the Daily Mirror’s north-east correspondent, wrote: ‘Joe Kinnear clocked on for his first shift at Newcastle yesterday… and had no first team squad to work with.’
Kinnear took deep offence to this, and it was likely the straw that broke the camel’s back, as the papers had written less than flattering copy about him for the past week. He walked into the room and asked before sitting down: ‘Which one is Simon Bird? You’re a ****.’
Next in the firing line was Niall Hickman, a football writer at the Daily Express. Kinnear told him he was ‘f***ing out of order’ and that he can ‘f*** off to another ground’. According to one journalist’s count, 52 swear words were used in the opening six minutes of the half-hour press conference – a curse every seven seconds.
Kinnear was not fined or formally disciplined for his expletive-filled rant. Newcastle stood by him behind the scenes, but his reputation was tarnished among the media after arguably the most explosive press conference in Premier League history.
Joe Kinnear had the most expletive-filled rant by any Premier League manager in history
Jose Mourinho (Man United) – August 2018
In Mourinho’s final year at Old Trafford, it became evident that one of the game’s great tacticians had somewhat lost his touch, as his United side languished in sixth place and 11 points adrift from the top four when he was sacked in December.
Four months prior to his dismissal, United suffered a 3-0 defeat by Tottenham at Old Trafford, after which Mourinho came out swinging in his post-match press conference. The defeat was Mourinho’s heaviest at home in his career, and the first time he had ever lost two of his opening three league games.
At the end of the heated press conference, Mourinho turned on his critics by holding up three fingers to represent the number of Premier League titles he once won with Chelsea.
The Portuguese boss said: ‘Do you know what was the result? 3-0. But what this [three fingers] also means?
‘It also means three Premier Leagues and I won more alone than the other 19 managers together. Three for me, two for them. So respect, respect, respect.’
In his last season at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho held an infamous interview were he demanded respect from reporters for his achievements in the Premier League
Roy Hodgson (West Brom) – November 2011
It was not until 2018 that footage of Roy Hodgson’s frustrated outburst on Match of the Day circulated across the internet. The West Brom boss fumed at a reporter, as he believed he was the recipient of a disingenuous line of questioning.
Hodgson’s side had secured a 2-1 win over Bolton, but he was left unhappy in his post-match interview, even aiming profanities towards the reporter, which is why the footage was not aired at the time.
‘We were rocked back by another decision that I find hard to accept,’ Hodgson said, regarding a penalty incident between Zoltan Gera and Fabrice Muamba. The reporter then asked him what decision he was referring to, causing the Englishman to lose his cool.
‘Let’s not take the p*** here,’ Hodgson said, after accusing the reporter of being ‘tricky’. The reporter insisted he was asking a genuine question, but that did little to calm Hodgson.
He was unconvinced by the reporter’s claim to innocence and insisted he believed he was being insincere. The reporter then asked Hodgson if he would like to restart the interview, to which the manager obliged after stating: ‘I won’t mention it [the penalty incident] then. There wasn’t a f***ing penalty in the game.’
Hodgson was not sanctioned for his behaviour.
Nigel Pearson – (Leicester) April 2015
Nigel Pearson became embroiled in an argument with a reporter after his Leicester side suffered a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea in 2015. Despite the result, Pearson insisted that his side would bounce back, citing their ability to disprove previous critics.
Ian Baker, a reporter for the Wardle Whittell Agency at the time, asked what criticism the Leicester boss was specifically referring to. This sparked an animated reaction, and led to Baker being called an ‘ostrich’, ‘stupid’ and ‘daft’, as well as having his voice mimicked by Pearson.
The veteran manager questioned whether Baker had his head in the clouds, or in the sand as an Ostrich would. Pearson felt slighted because he felt that the criticism towards his players had been public and unrelenting.
Baker disagreed, arguing that there had ‘not been much harsh criticism of the players’, causing Pearson to lose his cool. The manager told the reporter to not give that ‘c**p’ with him and proceeded to call him stupid before storming out of the press conference.
Soon after, Pearson apologised for the incident in Leicester’s next press conference. Baker took to Twitter to state he had accepted the apology, where he wrote: ‘I have accepted the apology. Fair play to him [Pearson] for being big enough to apologise.’
Nigel Pearson locked horns with a reporter, calling him a number of insults before storming out
Harry Redknapp (Tottenham) – August 2010
In one of the more inexplicable manager rants in Premier League history, Harry Redknapp took deep offence to being labelled a ‘wheeler-dealer’ for his reputation of securing last-minute bargain buys on transfer deadline day.
In August 2010, Sky Sports reporter Rob Palmer jokingly claimed that Redknapp had earned a reputation of being a bit of a ‘wheeler-dealer’ with his transfer business, to which Redknapp immediately snapped.
‘No, I’m not a wheeler-dealer, don’t f***ing call me that,’ he said. Palmer immediately showed his remorse, stating he did not mean it in an offensive way, but Redknapp did not extend any sympathies.
‘I’ve not made my name as a f***ing wheeler-dealer, don’t say that to a football manager,’ Tottenham’s gaffer at the time added, as he stormed out of the interview.
Reflecting on the incident in 2022, Redknapp explained that he felt as if his credibility as a football manager was being downplayed, and insisted that he was more than merely a shrewd businessman.
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