8 times press conferences went off the rails: Florentino Perez joins the list…
The pressure involved with any position in football can often spill out when managers are placed as the target of a room full of journalists.
As Florentino Perez joined the long list of people to have a rant in front of the world’s media, we are looking back at eight of the best press conference outbursts.
Arsene Wenger’s ‘Why do you look at me?’
Arsene Wenger was holding a press conference ahead of a Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich in 2013 but when a journalist asked a seemingly innocent question about a possible contract extension, the Arsenal boss took issue.
“That’s the wrong information. I think I worked for 16 years here in England, and I deserve a bit more credit than wrong information where only one intention is to harm.
“If it’s good information, who comes from nowhere, it’s all right, but this is the wrong information who comes from nowhere, and is completely wrong.”
Wenger then looked over to Sam Wallace and unprompted, said, “I look at you, not because you give information. I don’t know if it’s you. I don’t know where information comes from.”
Wallace, confused, replies “me?”
Wenger asks in return: “Yeah. Why do you look at me?”
Wallace: “Because it’s your press conference.”
Fair point.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s broken German outburst
Giovanni Trapattoni’s German was not perfect but nobody who left the Bayern Munich press conference room in March 1998 was unsure of the message he was trying to impart.
The German club’s form had collapsed under the Italian and three successive defeats had the knives out. His own players spoke about a breakdown in a relationship between players and coach and Trapattoni took exception to that.
“These players complain more than they play!” he said as he banged the table with his fist. “Strunz! Strunz has been here two years, played 10 games, is always injured! How dare Strunz!”
Trapattoni called his players “weak like a bottle empty” before shouting “Ich habe fertig”, meaning “I have ready”, when he intended to mean “I have finished”.
“There are certain situations in life when you need to raise your voice, and that press conference was one of those occasions,” he later said in 2011.
Strunz didn’t mind though, later crediting that outburst with giving him the required notoriety for a media career.
Rafa Benitez’s facts
While Kevin Keegan is missing from this list due to that being an interview rather than a press conference, another one of Alex Ferguson’s mind game victims has made it.
Fergie suggested that Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool side would choke under the pressure and the Spaniard took the bait.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and began to read, committing an act of reputational Seppuku.
Benitez spoke as we all do when you are in the midst of an argument and run out of points to make. He kept saying “facts” over and over again until the word had lost all meaning.
Ferguson was presumably sitting at home with a smile from ear to ear and unsurprisingly, Liverpool did choke and Manchester United won the league.
Eric Cantona’s seagulls analogy
After serving a four-month ban for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace fan, Eric Cantona held a press conference but instead of apologising or explaining his actions, the Frenchman said: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”
He then got up and left.
Cantona then produced the same trick at a 2019 FIFA Awards do when he said: “As flies to wanton boys, we are for the gods. They kill us for their sport. Soon the science will not only be able to slow down the aging of the cells – soon the science will fix the cells to the state. And so we will become eternal.
“Only accidents, crimes, wars will still kill us, but unfortunately crimes and wars will multiply.
“I love football. Thank you.”
No, Eric. Thank you.
Avram Grant and his monosyllabic answers
Avram Grant was not exactly in a chatty mood in April 2008.
Despite Chelsea beating Everton and keeping themselves in the title race, Grant produced a five-minute and 39-second press conference that included just 137 words, of which eight were no, one was yes and 21 were ‘I don’t know.’
He also said “I have nothing to say” five times which was apparent even before he said it.
Florentino Perez’s outburst
It’s a new entry on the list as Florentino Perez produced an hour-long rant after a tense fortnight at Real Madrid.
Having lost La Liga and seen his players literally knocking each other out, Perez announced a press conference in which many predicted he was going to retire.
He did anything but.
He called elections, something that Real Madrid’s laws mean only he can realistically run for. He called out journalists by name. He called them all ugly. He said players fighting was normal and happened every season. He called Barcelona cheats.
He did everything but take any proportion of blame for the mess his club had become.
After the hour, a shocked media room wondered what exactly was the point of any of that.
Real Madrid writers run out of ideas and resort to violence in latest soap opera
Nigel Pearson’s ostrich challenge
Upsetting Nigel Pearson at the best of times was the work of a person with a death wish, but doing so in the middle of a relegation scrap was particularly unwise.
After a loss to Chelsea, Pearson said Leicester were battling against “criticism and negativity” something that journalist Ian Baker sought to clarify.
Baker: “What criticism are you talking about?”
Pearson: “Have you been on holiday for six months? Have you been away for six months?”
Baker: “No, I am just not quite sure what specific criticism you are referring to?”
Pearson: “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.”
Baker: “Probably not.”
Pearson: “I can, you can’t. You can’t. Listen you have been here often enough and for you to ask that question, you are either being very, very silly or you are being absolutely stupid, one of the two because for you to ask that question, I am sorry son, you are daft.”
Pearson has yet to prove whether he can in fact put his head in the sand like an ostrich.
Joe Kinnear’s sweary outburst
Kinnear: “Which one is Simon Bird?”
Bird: “Me.”
Kinnear: “You’re a c***.”
Bird: “Thank you.”
Joe Kinnear’s Newcastle United press conference is the stuff of legend.
It’s September 2008. Joe Kinnear has just been appointed Newcastle manager and rather than spend his first press conference building hope for the fans, he attacked the media with an incredible sweary rant.
He took issue with the reporting of Simon Bird who was the Daily Mirror’s north-east football writer. He then went after Niall Hickman, football writer for the Express, telling him “You are out of order. Absolutely f**king out of order.”
But to be fair to the journalists, they did not just sit there and say “yes Mr. Kinnear, sorry Mr Kinnear.” they came back with retorts of their own, accusing Kinnear of never actually reading their copy which only served to set him off further.
“It is none of your f***ing business. What the f**k are you going to do? You ain’t got the balls to be a f**king manager.”
And you know it’s bad when someone who works for The Sun is suggesting it’s all gone a bit too far.
Newcastle’s press officer tried to wrestle it back to football and even attempted to make it off the record; unsurprisingly, that did not go down well.
Kinnear swore over 50 times in five minutes, making it one of the most memorable press conferences of all time.
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