Football’s biggest bullies aren’t found on the pitch, cracking ribs with their elbows or launching kamikaze dives at opponents’ shins. The real menace for many football teams lurks in the stands or prowls the touchlines.

Considering the fact that they’re employed in one of the least secure, most highly pressurised occupations in sport, it’s easy to see why football managers sometimes fly off the handle when their sides under-perform.

However, amongst football managers there is a special breed of bullies who have the knack of intimidating not only their own players, but also opposing teams and their managers at the slightest provocation. Here are our picks for the worst football manager bullies:

Jose Mourinho

Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho spends most of his match time doing a convincing impression of a bomb about to go off. Never one to back down from conflict, the diminutive Portuguese coach has a long history of responding to, and provoking, confrontation amongst opposing players and managers.

The volatile Mourinho spent considerable periods of his time in the Premiership banned from the touchline due to his ability to become embroiled in off-the-pitch controversy. At the peak of his reign of terror, Mourinho became involved in a feud with Arsene Wenger, accusing the Arsenal manager of having a voyeuristic interest in Chelsea.

Mourinho’s combative nature eventually proved to be his undoing, as he found himself forced out of Chelsea after clashing with the club’s management. Following his sacking, Mourinho set course for Italy, where controversy and explosive personalities are not only tolerated but actively encouraged.

 

 

Roy Keane

Roy Keane developed a reputation for a sour disposition during his career as a football player for Manchester United, Ireland and Celtic. Some blamed drink for some of the Irishman’s more memorable exploits, which included getting himself sent home from a Football World Cup and spending an evening in jail, after having assaulted a woman in a bar after a Manchester United match.

However, giving up the drink just seemed to leave Keane more volatile and angry than ever, and Sunderland’s players must have been quaking in their boots when they heard the news that he’d be making his managerial debut at their club.

Putting Keane in a managerial position amounted to putting a stick of TNT in a pressure cooker, and despite a bright start at Sunderland, it was only a matter of time before Keane’s notoriously foul temper got the better of him. Keane lasted approximately 2 seasons at Sunderland before making the decision to inform FIFA Vice President Jack Warner of the fact that he was a ‘clown’.

This revelation was followed by a prolonged period of inconsistent form by a previously ’spirited’ (read terrified) Sunderland team, that eventually led to Keane bumping heads with the management at the club. Keane came off second-best in this encounter, and made the decision to end his career in management a few days later.

 

 

Neil Warnock

Neil Warnock has managed 11 football clubs during his career, and during this time has earned himself the reputation of being Britain’s biggest hell-raiser.

During his career, Warnock has curried conflict at every level of the game, becoming involved in spats with his own players, assistants, home and opposition fans, opposition players and of course opposition managers.

Warnock’s misdemeanours are too numerous to catalogue, however, highlights include coming so close to assaulting a referee that police were forced to intercede, as well as sparking a pitch-side brawl during a match between Crystal Palace and Reading.

Warnock is also famous for going for 7 years without speaking to his friend and assistant manager, Mick Jones, after the latter refused to follow his sacked Plymouth Argyle manager and friend to Oldham Athletic.

 

 

Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson’s career is defined as much by his ability to become involved in altercations with those around him, as his success as Manchester United manager.

Ferguson’s bully resume includes throwing a tea set at David Beckham, refusing to speak to the press following losses by his club, and lambasting opposing referees and players at ever opportunity.

Ferguson’s alteractions with Jose Mourinho are amongst his greatest moments as a football bully. The two enjoyed a venomous rivalry throughout Mourinho’s tenure at Chelsea, resulting in several tit-for-tat verbal exchanges that had the tabloids in raptures.

 

 

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