You may have seen the video of Claudio Ranieri jokingly putting former player N’Golo Kante in a headlock when Leicester played Chelsea this weekend – and if not you can find it at the end of this article – so in light of this, FUBAR FC decided to put together our Top 5 Manager vs Player brawls that certainly weren’t playful.
5. Jose Mourinho vs. Victor Valdes.
Any list of fights in football wouldn’t be complete without Jose Mourinho popping up. However, due to the relatively mild nature of this scuffle with Victor Valdes it only makes Number 5 on our list. Valdes was irked by Mourinho heavily celebrating beating Barcelona at the Camp Nou when he was Inter Milan manager.
4. Neil Warnock vs Sol Bamba.
A relatively recent one here as Cardiff’s Sol Bamba lashed out at basically everyone including his own manager Neil Warnock after being sent off. The lads from FUBAR’s Good Team on Paper talk us through it.
3. Joe Jordan vs. Gennaro Gattuso.
This altercation happened during a very ill-tempered Champions League match between AC Milan and Spurs and FUBAR would have loved to see it play out in full. A big Scotsman vs. a short, angry Italian bloke would have made an appetising match-up.
2. Nigel Pearson vs. James McArthur.
Despite keeping Leicester up in the 2014/2015 season, Nigel Pearson was, by all accounts, a bit of a train-wreck. He coined the infamous ‘are you an ostrich?’ quote and told one of his own team’s fans to ‘Fuck off and die.’ Here he is strangling Crystal Palace’s James McArthur. Pearson was rumoured to be annoyed at McArthur because he refused to sign for Leicester.
1. Alan Pardew vs. David Meyler.
Another manager who has become a bit of a joke, Pardew’s bizarre yet hilarious headbutt on Meyler came when his Newcastle team were actually winning 3-1 against Hull.
