Mancini vs Tevez and the top 10 boss vs player bust-ups

By Mirror Football in Mirror Football Blog

Published 16:07 06/10/10

Carlos Tevez has prepared for his return to Manchester City not with contrition but by explaining in a TV interview how he almost traded punches with his City manager Roberto Mancini at half-time of a 2010 match against Newcastle.

Here's how MirrorFootball covered the incident at the time.

Eventually, the pair were calmed down before it escalated to fisticuffs, but some of this lot weren't so lucky.

Here is MirrorFootball 's run-down of the 10 best dust-ups between bosses and their players.

Brian Clough Vs Nigel Jemson
Poor little Nigel was one of Cloughie's many victims in the days when you could get away with it. The striker was just 19 when Ole Big 'Ead accused him of not trying hard enough in a reserve match. The Forrest gaffer asked him: "Have you ever been hit in the stomach?" Jemson timidly replied: "No" before Clough unleashed a right-hook and said: "You have now, son..."
Winner: Clough

Alan Shearer Vs Joey Barton
Fighting to save Newcastle from the drop, desperate Shearer gave Barton his 53rd "last chance" in a game against Liverpool - just days after he had come out of prison. In typical Joey Barton fashion, he was sent off after this horrendous tackle on Xabi Alonso. In the changing room after the 3-0 defeat Shearer told him: "It was a mistake bringing you back in the team". Cue mayhem. Barton shouted "I'm the best player at this club, you're a s*** manager with s*** tactics." This sparked off a full-scale brawl and they had to be dragged apart.
Winner: Barton

Graeme Souness vs Craig Bellamy
The petulant striker has a history of run-ins with fellow players and managers, but his biggest feud was with boss Souness at Newcastle. In 2005, Souness wanted Bellamy to play out of position in right midfield. The Welshman flatly refused, saying he’d fake an injury if he had to. He was subsequently dropped, then let rip at Souness, calling him a liar. An £80,000 fine followed for his troubles. In a separate incident Bellamy had a bust up with Toon assistant coach John Carver at Newcastle Airport. He reportedly threw "quite a heavy chair" at Carver during the fracas.
Winner: Bellamy

Brian Clough vs Roy Keane
You wouldn't fancy taking either of these two on, but Keane was just a young player at Forest in 1991 when he under-hit a back pass against Crystal Palace. Cloughie was not impressed and punched him, knocking Keane to the floor. He later admitted, "I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up, so I couldn't have hit him very hard." Thats alright then!
Winner: Clough

Martin O'Neill Vs Nigel Reo-Coker
A training ground feud led to fisticuffs between the Villa pair. One stunned onlooker said: "It was really heated and at one point they fell to the ground grappling with each other like school kids." Reo-Coker was sent home and was left out the first team for a month. He later apologised and was fined two weeks' wages.
Winner: O'Neill

Alex Ferguson Vs David Beckham
Manchester United lost 2-0 to arch-rivals Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round; which meant Fergie unleashed his famed hairdryer treatment on the team. But Becks got more than just the hairdryer. He got a nice cut too after Fergie kicked a boot which flew into Beckham's eyebrow, leaving a nasty gash. “Just f***** patch him up," Fergie was said to have told the club’s physio after the incident.
Winner: Ferguson, as always

Lawrie McMenemy Vs Mark Wright
After a poor display from Southampton, and in particular centre-back Wright, Saints boss McMenemy let rip in the dressing room post-game. Wrighty wouldn't back down and give an apology though. Instead he shoved McMenemy into the showers - where both men, still fully clothed, began to slap each other silly until pulled apart by ashen-faced colleagues.
Winner: Score draw

Brian Laws Vs Ivano Bonetti
The lovable Italian was a hero to the fans at Grimsby. Shame Mariners boss Laws didn't feel the same level of affection towards Ivano. After a 3-2 defeat to Luton in February 1996 Laws decided to throw the nearest thing to him at Bonetti. Unluckily for the Italian it was a plate of chicken wings. He was unable to shift himself out of the way and took the plate full in the face, ending up with a fractured cheekbone.
Winner: Laws

Trevor Francis vs Alex Kolinko
Francis must have learned a thing or two from his his time under Cloughie at Forest. After he spotted Kolinko laughing when Bradford took the lead against their Crystal Palace side, the red mist descended and he gave the Latvian an old skool thump around the back of the head. He was fined by both Palace and the FA for his troubles.
Winner: Kolinko

John Sitton vs The whole of the Leyton Orient team
The legendary Sitton never actually struck any of his players (as far as we know), but he was surely only a hair's breadth away during this rant (NSFW: contains VERY strong language) and he makes the list because of the unbridled fury and sheer brilliance of his tirade. "...and you can bring your dinner!" Genius.
Winner: Insanity