Football’s Quarrels and Feuds, Part Sixteen

1- Wim Kieft and Rinus Michels, 1990

Prior to Holand’s UEFA Europan Championship qualifier vs. Greece on November 21, 1990 (2-0 Dutch win), Dutch Manager Rinus Michels decided on a tactical switch.

For the previous two matches the team had played ina  4-4-2 formation, however, he was convinced by his players to use 4-3-3 for the Greece match.

The change in formation, meant that Marco van Basten was now the sole striker, which in turn led to Wim Kieft to lose his spot upront. On November 20, he angrily left the squad blaming loss of motivation.

Photo From: World Soccer, August 1990

(Wim Kieft of PSV Eindhoven)

Photo From: Het Nederlands Elftal, De Histoire van Oranje, 1905-1989, Author Matty Verkamman

(Rinus Michels lifting the European Championship trophy, June 25, 1988, European Championships, Holland 2-USSR 0)

2- Julio Olarticoechea and Jean-Claude Suaudeau, 1986/87

1986 World Cup Champion, the Argentinean Julio Olarticochea joined French club Nantes latger that summer for the 198/87 season.

However, he left after just one season after problems with Nantes Manager Jean-Claude Suaudeau, whom he claimed did not show him any respect.

Photo From: Panini, France 1986/87

(Nantes’ Julio Olarticoechea)

Photo From: Panini, France 1986/87

(Nantes Manager Jean-Claude Suaudeau)

3- Carlos Alberto and Michael Owen, 2005

Following England’s win (2-0) vs. Azerbaijan in a World Cup qualifier on March 30, 2005, Azerbaijan Manager (and former Brazil Legend) Carlos Alberto went on a tirade against England striker Michael Owen.

Carlos Alberto said: "This man, this midget, I refuse to talk about him any more. I will talk about Beckham, Rooney, Ferdinand or Lampard, but not this midget. This midget ought to clean the boots of Beckham."

It later turned out that Carlos Alberto’s outburst was due to the mistaken belief that Owen had been boasting how many goals he would score against Azerbaijan.

This specualtion had actually been brought up by the English Media and not Owen, many of whom were predicting a win of eight goal margin.

Photo From: World Soccer, May 1998

(Eighteen year old Michael Owen in action for England)

Photo From: World Soccer, May 2005

(Carlos Alberto)

4- George Weah and Didier Deschamps, 1998/99

In an Interview in early 1999, George Weah attacked France Captain Didier Deschamps for being provocative on the field. He also believed the French Captaincy had inflated his ego and self importance. Weah particularly attacked him for being instrumental to oust AC Milan teammate Ibrahim Ba from France’s 1998 World Cup Finals squad (a claim made by Ba).

Photo From:  Onze-Mondial, Hors Serie 30, June 1999

(Didier Deschamps, March 27, 1999, EC Qualifier, France 0-Ukraine 0)

Photo From: World Soccer, October  1997

(Ibrahima Ba at AC Milan, 1997/98)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 121, February 1999

(George Weah)

5- Rudi Voeller and Gunter Netzer/German Media, 2003

On September 6, 2003, Germany earned a scoreless tie at Iceland in a UEFA European Championship qualifier.

In the Post match interview on German Channel ARD, Germany Manager went on a expletive-filled tirade against the German Media and especially Gunter Netzer.

Here are some excerpts:

"I can't stand to hear this crap any more about 'another low point' and 'another lower point' for German football,"

"You are all talking as if we should have come here and blown them away 5-0, I have to defend myself and the team against those who are dragging us into the mud."

ARD commentator Gerhard Delling had been critical of the performance and stated there was little "entertainment value" in the broadcast.

In addition, Gunter Netzer had attacked German defender Sebastian Kehl for saying in a post-match interview that Iceland were strong opponents.

Voeller responded: "The reporting here is not acceptable. I can't stand this nonsense any more, It's all below the belt. Delling (ARD commentator Gerhard Delling), talks about entertainment. If they want an evening of television entertainment they should get a gameshow host here. Delling , go get yourself a new job."

"I cannot accept this extremely negative reporting, I know I'm going to get in trouble for this but I can't stand this any more.”

"We're not scoring enough goals but it's a load of crap the way we're being criticised by the commentators here."

Afterwards with ARD studio host, Waldemar Hartmann, Voeller attacked him as well.

He said: "Waldi, you too! You sit here relaxed in your chair after drinking your three big wheat beers,"

Hartmann responded: "We're in Iceland and they don't have that sort of beer here. I don't drink that beer anyhow."

Voeller later apologised. "I'm sorry about that beer stuff but I'm not taking anything else back."

Voeller attacked Netzer for criticizing current performances even though Germany had poor matches with Netzer as a player as well.

Netzer resonded: "It's true we also had bad matches in the past but what worries me is the high number of poor performances now”

“Rudi should be happy about the coverage he got in the past. The criticism so far has been very mild."

Netzer also stated that in his day, each poor performnce was followed by ten good ones, to which Voeller responded by saying that must have been "sometime before World War II".

Photo From:  World Soccer, Summer 2004

(Rudi Voeller)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 46, October 1979

(Gunther Netzer)

Photo From: Kicker Sportsmagazin Edition, 100 Jahre Deutsche Landerspiele

(Voeller Interview with Waldemar Hartmann)