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The 10 strangest football press conferences ever

By ghanasoccernet.com
Sports News The 10 strangest football press conferences ever
DEC 18, 2014 LISTEN

FC Midtjylland's Pione Sisto is doing so well in the Danish Superliga at the moment that he earned a call-up to the Denmark U21 side this week. During the press-conference announcement, something rather unusual happened: Sisto's parents interrupted proceedings with an African tribal dance, eventually drawing their son into the bizarre proceedings by stripping his shirt off and covering his face in white powder.Inspired by this very atypical scenario, here are 10 of the most weird and wonderful press conferences from football history. Ivaylo Petev's First and Last Levski Sofia Presser On October 8, 2013, Ivaylo Petev was unveiled as the new manager of Bulgarian side Levski Sofia. Minutes into his first press conference, however, the manager was confronted by fans of the club who protested to his supposed allegiance to rivals CSKA Sofia.The confrontation soon turned ugly, and Petev was stripped of his shirt as he left the room. He resigned the following day. Joe Kinnear's C-Bomb Bonanza Joe Kinnear earned a lot of respect within the beautiful game for the way in which he maintained Wimbledon FC as a force to be reckoned with in the 1990s, despite a shoestring budget.However, the former Spurs player's reputation started to take a nosedive when he was appointed interim manager of Newcastle United and he gave one of the most bizarre press conferences in football history.On October 2, 2008, Kinnear took exception to the work of a number of attending journalists and proceed to swear 52 times in his furious rant.Listen to the full meltdown here, but be warned: It contains very NSFW language. Eric Cantona's Deep-Sea Metaphor Eric Cantona earned a four-month ban and 120 hours of community service after he kicked and punched an abusive Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park in January of 1995.In a press conference held shortly after a two-week prison sentence was overturned, Cantona simply sat down and slowly uttered the immortal words: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Then, he simply got up and walked out, leaving everyone to wonder what on Earth he was talking about. Jurgen Klopp Gets Lost in Translation Jurgen Klopp is usually happy to give interviews in English, but sometimes the German manager's idioms don't translate too well.Before Borussia Dortmund's recent defeat at the Emirates, Klopp said said, per the Daily Mail: "We know about the reasons but we've also had injuries with the foot that we've never heard about. Sometimes one comes through the other."He then proceeded to burst out into laughter like he had told the world's funniest joke.When that line didn't quite land, he proceeded to say "Alles hat eine ende nur die wurst hat zwei," which literally means "Everything has one end, only a sausage has two."Alright then, Jurgen. Sir Bobby Robson's Poruguese Battle It is not uncommon for a foreign manager to use a translator in a press conference. However, when Sir Bobby Robson arrived at Sporting Lisbon in 1992, he made an effort to speak some Portuguese—even though his vocabulary was a little limited.So, journalists were treated to several press conferences in which the legendary manager flitted between two languages in the same sentence.Robson must certainly be congratulated for his effort, even if the mixture of Portuguese and English in a broad North East accent sounded a little bizarre. Gio Trapattoni's German Outburst Toward the end of his second stint as Bayern Munich manager, Giovanni Trapattoni came under fire for a string of poor performances, allegedly caused by a fallout with some of his players.The Italian decided to hold a press conference in German, despite a clear lack of proficiency in the language. What he lacked in linguistic accuracy he definitely made up for in passion, shouting phrases like "The players are weak like a bottle empty!" Avram Grant's Monosyllabic Adventure In the post-match presser following Chelsea's victory at Everton in April of 2008, manager Avram Grant wasn't exactly in a chatty mood.In a six-minute press conference, he said just 137 words and answered the majority of the questions with either "yes," "no" or "I don't know."Grant never really gave a clear reason for his monosyllabic mood. Arsene Wenger's "Why Do You Look at Me?" Outburst In a press conference proceeding a Champions League game with Bayern Munich in February of 2013, Arsene Wenger was in an unusually chippy mood.The Arsenal manager angrily told a journalist he had the "wrong information" about a contract extension, before asking the strangest question ever heard at a presser: "Why do you look at me?"The perplexed journalist had no choice but to reply: "Because it's your press conference." Probably while staring at his shoes.Wenger then proceeded to shut down any questions about his commitment to the FA Cup, before exclaiming "I have won the FA Cup four times. Who has won it more? Give me one name."It's a good point—no one has won the FA Cup more times. Except Sir Alex Ferguson (five times). And Aston Villa's George Ramsay (six times).  Carlo Ancelotti's Champions League Final Interruption During the 2013-14 season, Carlo Ancelotti faced two unusual interruptions during Champions League press conferences.The first was a Greenpeace banner in Denmark that scrolled down in protest at a tournament sponsor, and the second was a gaggle of his own players, who couldn't wait to include him in their celebrations when they won La Decima (their 10th European Cup) in Lisbon in May. Vitor Pereira's Press Officer Rant Vitor Pereira's most recent managerial appointment has been with Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli. In March, the Portuguese gaffer got into a very public disagreement with the club's press officer, who was trying to restrict the nature of questions being asked by the reporters.As you can see, Pereira was not entirely happy with the situation. 

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