15 Well-known Participant-Supervisor Feuds In Soccer Historical past: Salah vs. Slot Joins the Listing

In a bombshell seven-and-a-half-minute interview after Liverpool’s 3-3 draw with Leeds United last weekend, Mohamed Salah accused the club of throwing him “under the bus” and claimed he no longer has any relationship with head coach Arne Slot. The ‘Egyptian King’, who has scored 250 goals for Liverpool over the last eight years and was the driving force behind the 2024-25 Premier League title success under Slot, didn’t see a single minute of action at Elland Road after being named on the bench for the third game in a row, and decided to go public with his grievances.

Salah only signed a new two-year contract in April, but the “hurt” forward is now being heavily linked with a January switch to the Saudi Pro League, with Slot having suggested that he will not be reintegrated into the first team unless he apologises. Liverpool were already in the midst of a crisis after a disastrous start to their title defence, with Salah among those who have allowed their standards to dip significantly, but the noise around Anfield is near deafening now, and it remains to be seen if a harmonious resolution can be reached that helps the Reds salvage their campaign.

It has to be said, though, that dressing room bust-ups like this are nothing new. Below, GOAL goes through the most infamous rows between managers and players in modern football…

Sir Alex Ferguson vs David Beckham

Perhaps the most infamous manager-player feud of all time. With Manchester United trailing 2-0 at half-time in a 2003 FA Cup tie against bitter rivals Arsenal, Sir Alex Ferguson dished out a few angry words during the interval.

At one point, he singled out David Beckham, who the United boss believed had been taking his foot off the pedal as he closed in on a move to Real Madrid. As Ferguson approached the player, he kicked a boot into his face, with the resulting cut requiring several stitches.

The next day, photos of Beckham’s wound was all over the newspapers. Ferguson revealed in his autobiography that the incident convinced him he was losing control of the dressing room and he implored the board to sell the midfielder as soon as possible. They duly obliged, with Beckham moving to Santiago Bernabeu that summer.

In the immediate months following Paul Pogba’s big-money return to Old Trafford, his relationship with manager Jose Mourinho was all sunshines and rainbows. However, during the 2017-18 season, the mask began to slip.

At the beginning of the following season, Mourinho took the vice-captaincy off the player. The decision came after months of reports that the pair’s relationship had become irrevocably damaged, with the duo clashing on the training ground in a video captured in September 2018.

Mourinho was sacked soon after, but that was not the end of the feud. In April 2021, after the Portuguese had taken over at Tottenham, Pogba launched a scathing attack on his former manager, telling Sky Sports: “Once I had a great relationship with Mourinho. Everybody saw that and the next day you don’t know what happened. That’s the strange thing I had with Mourinho and I cannot explain to you because even I don’t know.”

Mourinho did not accept Pogba’s version of events, though, replying: “I would like to say that I couldn’t care less with what he says. I am not interested at all.”

The biggest personality clash in the history of the game? It could well be.

In theory, Zlatan Ibrahimovic should have made Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Barcelona side even better when he joined the treble-winners from Inter in 2009, and the early signs were promising. Guardiola has even acknowledged himself that the towering and technically gifted forward was “excellent” for the first half of the season. The problem was that their relationship completely collapsed during the second half of the campaign.

Ibrahimovic had never felt quite at home in what he perceived as a school-like set-up at Barca in which everyone obeyed the man he sarcastically referred to as ‘The Philosopher’, and the outspoken Swede began to throw tantrums after effectively losing his starting spot to Lionel Messi, whom Guardiola decided to deploy as a ‘false nine’. Ibrahimovic even accused the Catalan coach of having “no balls” and “sh*tting himself” in front of Jose Mourinho when Barca faced Inter in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

While Guardiola has since refused to throw any more fuel on the fire, Ibrahimovic has never shied away from blaming the former Blaugrana boss for him spending just one season at Camp Nou before returning to San Siro – only this time to play for AC Milan.

“The problem wasn’t with me, it was with him, and he never came to terms with it,” Ibrahimovic subsequently stated. “I don’t know what his problem was with me.”

“I can understand [if some players are frustrated]. I informed [Mario Balotelli] that should you performed with me 10 years in the past I give to you daily possibly one punch in your head. However there are alternative ways to assist guys like Mario.”

That was how Roberto Mancini summed up working with Balotelli at Manchester Metropolis, with the pair colliding on multiple event. Even when the supervisor did maintain religion within the centre-forward by a variety of the chaos, along with his favouritism even irritating some members of the squad, this was actually a love-hate relationship.

Throughout a pre-season pleasant in opposition to LA Galaxy in 2011, the Italian coach dragged the striker off after he bizarrely tried – and missed – an audacious backheel, as a substitute of tapping the ball into an empty internet. In January 2013, the odd couple even got here to blows on the coaching floor after the striker put in a crunching deal with on team-mate Gael Clichy.

Then, in 2023 when Mancini was Italy supervisor, and ignored the great type of Balotelli to name up uncapped, Argentina-born striker Mateo Retegui, the then-FC Sion striker appeared to goal a jibe at his ex-Metropolis boss on Instagram. There’s clearly no love misplaced between the pair.

Mick McCarthy vs Roy Keane

The feud so bitter and divisive it spawned its personal Wikipedia web page. The ‘Saipan incident’ stemmed from Roy Keane’s explosive response to what he deemed to be insufficient preparations from the FAI forward of Eire’s 2002 World Cup marketing campaign.

The combative midfielder aired his (many) grievances to The Irish Occasions, which understandably irritated supervisor Mick McCarthy. When the interview was revealed, Keane’s coach questioned him about it, and the midfielder’s response was legendary.

“Mick, you are a liar… You are a f*cking w*nker. I did not price you as a participant, I do not price you as a supervisor, and I do not price you as an individual. You are a f*cking w*nker and you’ll stick your World Cup up your a**e. The one cause I’ve any dealings with you is that one way or the other you’re the supervisor of my nation! You possibly can stick it up your b*llocks.”

Maybe unsurprisingly, Keane exited the camp quickly after, which led to all hell breaking unfastened again house in Eire. Regardless of the intervention of then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the midfielder’s probabilities of returning have been extinguished when he opted to provide an interview to the Mail on Sunday by which he claimed his squad-mates had decrease requirements than him.

Extra not too long ago, the 2 males appeared to bury the hatchet when their respective Championship sides squared off. However the incident will nonetheless go down as essentially the most explosive saga in Irish footballing historical past.

Sir Alex Ferguson vs Roy Keane

Keane and Ferguson are two of essentially the most legendary figures in United historical past, however a problem as trivial as a vacation villa brought about the pair’s relationship to fray on the edges again in 2005. The Irishman was supposedly sad in regards to the situation of the home allotted to him, his spouse and their 5 kids for the membership’s pre-season coaching journey to Portugal. Nevertheless, the United boss didn’t agree, feeling that Keane was being unnecessarily tough.

The break up between the duo solely widened when Keane slammed his team-mates throughout an un-broadcasted MUTV interview following a dismal away defeat to Middlesbrough. When the video was proven to the squad, with their captain current, a number of of them took exception to his harsh phrases, however he wouldn’t again down.

“What I seen about him that day as I used to be arguing with him was that his eyes began to slim, virtually to wee black beads. It was horrifying to look at – and I’m from Glasgow,” Ferguson recalled whereas launching his autobiography.

Shortly after, Keane would depart the membership, with the 2 males persevering with to commerce blows within the media within the years that adopted.

When Inter signed Ricardo Quaresma in 2008, Mourinho quickly made it clear that he deliberate to show the famously free-spirited wideman right into a extra disciplined operator. It is protected to say the experiment did not work, with the coach stating only a few months into his Nerazzurri profession: “He should be taught, in any other case he will not play, and I’m positive he’ll change and turn out to be extra tactically disciplined. He likes kicking the ball with the surface of his foot, however should you ask me about him in just a few months’ time, we’ll be speaking a couple of completely different Quaresma.”

After a frightfully disappointing begin to life in Milan, Quaresma was shipped out on mortgage to Chelsea. That did not labored out both and the next season, he as soon as once more barely featured as Mourinho led Inter to a well-known treble.

As evidenced by a latest interview with Portuguese newspaper Publico, it is clear the trivela-specialist doesn’t have many fond recollections of his time at San Siro. “My happiness and self-confidence have been taken away from me. At one level I wasn’t even called-up any extra. I felt on the margins of the squad and awoke crying once I needed to attend coaching periods,” he stated.

“I nonetheless have not understood some issues that occurred with him [Mourinho]. As quickly as I arrived in Milan, it was made clear to me that I used to be solely signed as a result of Mourinho needed me. Then, all of the sudden, I finished enjoying. It is true I wasn’t at my bodily peak and watching the video games again on tv I did not even recognise myself, but when a coach requests you after which would not assist in your time of want… “

Raymond Domenech vs Nicolas Anelka

France aren’t any strangers to a event implosion, however their squad-wide feud in opposition to supervisor Raymond Domenech on the 2010 World Cup was spectacular even by their very own requirements. The basis of the strain was Nicolas Anelka, who was reported to have informed his coach to “go f*ck your self you son of a wh*re” in the course of the half-time interval of Les Bleus’ defeat to Mexico.

He has since strongly denied shouting these phrases, with Domenech backing up his story, however there was nonetheless a critical falling out, with Anelka being despatched house after that recreation. This choice led to the squad refusing the practice till clear-the-air talks have been held.

The injury had already been finished, although, with France dropping their closing recreation and crashing out on the group stage. Anelka would later obtain an 18-game ban from worldwide matches and wouldn’t play for his nation once more.

Pep Guardiola vs Samuel Eto’o

Pep Guardiola successfully forcing Samuel Eto’o of Barcelona to be able to usher in Zlatan Ibrahimovic – at nice extra expense too – should rank because the worst commerce of all time.

Guardiola had tried to dump the Cameroonian instantly after taking up as Barca boss in 2008 however the striker stayed, and helped the membership win a primary treble, scoring the opening aim within the Champions League closing win over Manchester United in Rome. Nevertheless, Pep nonetheless needed to do away with Eto’o and refused to elucidate exactly why. “There’s not a single main cause for this choice,” he stated. “It’s a matter of feeling and sensations.”

Eto’o was lower than glad, and rather more forthcoming when it got here to discussing the circumstances surrounding his exit, revealing that he had taken exception to Guardiola’s alleged vanity. “I to begin with reminded Guardiola that he’d by no means been an awesome participant,” he later claimed. “He was participant, that is true. However, as a coach, he had confirmed nothing.”

Unsurprisingly, their relationship went downhill from there – regardless of Barca’s on-field success.

“Xavi informed me the membership needed me to remain however that I needed to discuss to Pep,” Eto’o defined. “I stated ‘By no means: if somebody doesn’t respect me, I don’t respect them.’ He shook arms with me once I was at Inter and I performed in opposition to Barca, however this was only for the cameras and TV. Behind the scenes earlier than the match, he didn’t greet me.”

Maybe Guardiola merely realised he’d made an enormous mistake. Whereas he fell out with Ibrahimovic inside six months, Eto’o received a second consecutive treble after clicking with Inter boss straight away.

In April 2020, Mourinho attracted headlines when he summoned a number of of his Tottenham gamers for an impromptu health session on Monken Hadley Frequent on the top of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how stunned was I?” Tanguy Ndombele recalled to The Guardian a yr later. “Truthfully? Ten. I requested why I ought to need to run and he stated I simply needed to do it. So it was nothing, actually. Afterwards he congratulated me and stated that I’d run effectively.”

Mourinho may need been impressed along with his enigmatic midfielder on that event, however usually their relationship was extraordinarily rocky. Only a month earlier than that notorious public coaching session, the Spurs boss had known as out the participant publicly after a disappointing draw with Burnley.

“Within the first half we didn’t have a midfield,” he stated. “I’ve to say he [Ndombele] has had sufficient time to come back to a distinct degree. I do know the Premier League is tough and a few gamers take a very long time to adapt to a distinct league. However a participant along with his potential has to provide us greater than he’s giving us, particularly once you see how Lucas [Moura], [Gio] Lo Celso and people gamers are enjoying. I used to be anticipating extra within the first half from him.”

Ndombele barely performed when the Premier League restarted, and though Mourinho ultimately softened his stance on the Frenchman, he was sacked earlier than the participant might make a correct return to the fold.

Roberto Mancini vs Carlos Tevez

Whereas Mancini was fairly forgiving of Balotelli’s antics, he was much less understanding when it got here to Carlos Tevez. Their feud stemmed from an incident in September 2011, when the Argentine refused to be subbed on throughout a Champions League match away at Bayern Munich.

After the incident, Tevez went house to Argentina the place he even thought-about retiring. Finally, although, he returned to the fold the next February, serving to Metropolis safe their maiden Premier League title. Chatting with the membership’s web site in 2022, he lastly gave his facet of the story.

“I stated if [Mancini] needed me to, I used to be able to go on, however I wasn’t going to maintain warming-up as I had spent about 35 minutes warming-up already. And from there, it was backwards and forwards between us. A bit in English, one other bit in Spanish, one other in Italian… and I imagine phrases have been misunderstood.

“As a result of I used to be telling him within the warmth of the second, he solely understood the issues that he needed to. I simply needed to know if he was going to make use of me or not, and it isn’t about who was proper or mistaken. It was all about attempting to get him to place himself in my footwear.”

Cristiano Ronaldo had re-established himself as the principle man at Manchester United once more after his shock return in 2021, scoring 24 targets throughout all competitions in his first season again. It was, nonetheless, a depressing marketing campaign for United, who slumped to a sixth-placed end, regardless of the most effective efforts of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.

Erik ten Hag was introduced in from Ajax to supervise a revolution in the summertime of 2022, and it rapidly turned clear that Ronaldo wouldn’t be a number one determine in his plans. The Portuguese solely began 4 of United’s first 14 league video games throughout Ten Hag’s debut season, which he noticed as an unacceptable state of affairs. He made headlines for storming down the tunnel earlier than the top of a 2-0 house win over Tottenham, however that was nothing in comparison with what got here subsequent.

In mid-November, Ronaldo unleashed a livid tirade in opposition to Ten Hag and United in a exceptional interview with Piers Morgan, saying he felt “betrayed” by the membership. “I don’t have respect for him as a result of he doesn’t present respect for me,” he stated when pressed on his relationship with Ten Hag. “In case you don’t have respect for me, I’m by no means gonna have respect for you.”

A couple of days later, the then-37-year-old left Outdated Trafford as his contract was terminated by mutual consent. Ten Hag ultimately got here out to ship his facet of the story, telling UK media: “When a participant positively would not need to be on this membership then he has to go. The interview was the primary time he stated he needed to depart. I believe as a membership you may’t settle for that. There shall be penalties.”

The Dutchman added in a thinly-veiled parting shot at Ronaldo: “When he’s in good condition, he is an effective participant, and he might assist us to get again and obtain the targets we’ve. That’s fairly clear. However he wasn’t.”

United went on to complete third with out the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, and finish a five-year trophy drought by successful the Europa League. Ronaldo could have received the battle, however Ten Hag received the warfare.

Manchester United have been completely determined to signal Jadon Sancho and eventually snapped up the English prodigy from Borussia Dortmund in July 2021 for £74m ($92m). Nevertheless, the winger struggled terribly to justify his sky-high price ticket. Issues simply did not click on constantly beneath Solskjaer, and interim boss Rangnick couldn’t get the most effective out of him both. Nevertheless, Sancho’s United profession stooped to even higher lows beneath Ten Hag.

After lacking a sizeable chunk of the 2022-23 marketing campaign because of “psychological and bodily struggles”, the hope was that Sancho would get again to one thing approaching his finest the next season. Nevertheless, issues got here to a head after he was not noted of the matchday squad completely for his facet’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal on September 3, 2024.

Throughout his post-match press convention, Ten Hag defined that Sancho’s omission was a results of his coaching performances, resulting in the 23-year-old hitting again at his supervisor after the sport on social media.

“Please do not imagine every thing you learn! I cannot permit folks saying issues that’s fully unfaithful, I’ve performed myself in coaching very effectively this week. I imagine there are different causes for this matter that I will not go into, I have been a scapegoat for a very long time which is not honest,” Sancho wrote in a publish that successfully ended his Outdated Trafford profession.

United introduced on September 14 that Sancho would practice “away from the first-team group pending decision of a squad self-discipline situation”, however he would by no means play for Ten Hag’s United once more. Sancho, who refused to apologise for his feedback, spent the second half of the 2023-24 season on mortgage to former membership Dortmund earlier than becoming a member of Chelsea on an obligation-to-buy deal final summer time.

Jose Mourinho vs Luke Shaw

Finishing Mourinho’s quartet of feuds – though we might have included just a few extra, in fact – is his long-running battle with Luke Shaw at Outdated Trafford. Though the defender featured pretty often throughout ‘The Particular One’s’ time within the United scorching seat, he acquired a number of rounds of public criticism.

After a 25-minute cameo throughout his facet’s 1-1 draw with Everton in April 2017, Mourinho claimed that Shaw had performed with “his mind”, such was the extent of detailed tactical instruction he was giving on the touchline. These feedback got here only a few days earlier than he questioned the participant’s “focus and ambition” and said that he was a “good distance behind” United’s different left-back choices on the time.

Mourinho’s jibes didn’t halt after his United sacking both, as he criticised Shaw’s set-piece taking whereas working as a pundit. The England worldwide regarded again on the pair’s tough relationship in an interview with SportBible in 2021, saying: “A number of the issues that occurred between us two, generally he went about it in the correct method. I believe lots of people will agree with that on the membership.

“Our relationship wasn’t the most effective. It was most likely fairly straightforward to see that from the surface. However one factor Jose did do was make me mentally a lot stronger. I believe psychological energy is what I might describe that interval beneath Jose Mourinho.

“I believe I felt a part of the staff beneath Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer], whereas beneath Jose generally I did not. Ole confirmed his perception and confidence in me. I at all times believed good instances have been coming. I caught in and dug deep; went by lots however got here out higher on the opposite facet.”

Ruben Amorim vs Marcus Rashford

There was some hope when Ruben Amorim succeeded Erik ten Hag as Manchester United supervisor in November 2024 that he would possibly assist Marcus Rashford rediscover his finest type. That didn’t show to be the case, although, and the Portuguese boss made it painfully clear that he had no real interest in even working with a participant who publicly expressed his curiosity find a brand new membership simply two days after being not noted of the squad for December’s Manchester derby because of behavioural causes.

Certainly, Amorim even joked after a 1-0 win at Fulham the next month that he’d moderately play United’s 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Important than convey Rashford again into his beginning line-up. He added when pressed on why Rashford had fallen to the underside of the attacking pecking order: “The reason being the coaching, the best way I see what a footballer ought to do in coaching, in life. It’s daily, each element. If issues don’t change, I cannot change.”

5 days later, the England worldwide was loaned to Aston Villa, the place he miraculously began enjoying with a smile on his face once more. Rashford secured one other mortgage transfer in the summertime, this time to Barcelona, the place he has since taken his resurgence up a notch, working alongside a number of world-class gamers.

In an interview with ITV Sport in October, Rashford cited an “inconsistent setting” as the principle cause for his struggles at United. Amorim gave these feedback the brief shrift they deserved when informed about them in a subsequent press convention, successfully ruling out Rashford ever returning beneath his watch: “I’m simply centered on the way forward for the membership, on the current of the membership. That’s crucial factor. So, I’m centered simply on my gamers and what they are saying, what they do, that’s my predominant focus.”