08 February 2023 , 12:33
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Sheffield United left it late to beat Wrexham in their FA Cup fourth round replay, but much of the talk after the game surrounded Billy Sharp.
The veteran striker, who put the Blades ahead in stoppage-time, hit out at the "disrespect" he claimed was shown to his club by their non-league opponents. Sharp also slammed the refereeing display at Bramall Lane after the visitors were awarded two penalties, the second of which was kept out by home goalkeeper Adam Davies.
Emotions can run high for players and managers around big matches, and that applies to both before and after the game. Here, Mirror Football looks at a few instances of when the calm facade has slipped in a big way.
Billy Sharp
"It was a great cup tie over two games," Sharp told ITV. "They played excellent. I think they’ve been disrespectful though – a few things before the game, thinking they were already through. I’m glad we’ve beaten them.
“They’re doing well in their league, we’re doing well in ours’. I wasn’t happy with a few of their players tonight, but that’s it now – we’ve got one over on them tonight. Good luck to them for promotion and hopefully we’ve put that one to bed now.
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“A few of their players, I wasn’t happy with. Little bit frustrated at the end there – I probably should have put the game to bed before I did. It’s one of those things, I want to win and I want to get through to the next round.”
Exactly the kind of needle you'd expect from a player after being on the end of a painful defeat. What's that? They won? Huh.
Charlie Austin
Which of these interviews was your favourite? Have your say in the comments section
Charlie Austin was left frustrated by refereeing calls in 2018 (Getty Images)Charlie Austin played over 100 games in the Premier League, scoring 34 goals including 18 in a single season. Yet many will remember him better for a rant against the officials after a Southampton game in 2018.
"We scored a perfectly good goal to make it 2-0," he told Sky Sports in a post-match interview. "The game was done and dusted.
"The officials cost us two points today," he added. "[We're] going on about VAR this, VAR that, help the officials. out.
"Clearly they need help, clearly. We play in the Premier League, the best league in the world, the most watched league in the world - give them all the help they need, because clearly they cost us two points today, it's a joke."
Austin avoided punishment for the rant, unless you count this Parklife mock-up as punishment. VAR, which the former QPR man was so desperate to see introduced, came into force the following season and was a roaring success. *Taps earpiece* actually we're hearing it didn't solve everything. Strange, that.
Nigel Pearson
A relegation battle can prompt managers to do many a thing. Until Nigel Pearson's Leicester side found themselves in trouble, though, asking a journalist if they were a flightless bird was not one of them.
After being asked by journalist Ian Baker about specifics over criticism of his Leicester team, Pearson asked Baker if he had been on holiday for six months. That was only the beginning, though.
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Nigel Pearson's Leicester climbed to safety after his rant (AFP/Getty Images)"I think you must have been either head in the clouds or 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," the boss said. "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."
Pearson left the King Power Stadium in the summer, paving the way for his successor Claudio Ranieri to win the league. All of that might not have been possible without the ostrich rant, which was followed by a season-saving 10 points from the final four games, though others might note Ranieri's success was achieved without such measures.
Rafa Benitez
Rafa Benitez has often been calm and measured in interviews. When he isn't, though, you really notice it.
"I have to talk about facts because I think it is important," the then-Liverpool manager said as his team battled with Man Utd for the league title. "They are nervous because we are top of the table. I want to be clear that I don't want to play mind games too early, I think they want to start them. I have some facts so it is easy to talk about this.
Rafa Benitez failed to deliver Liverpool a Premier League title (AFP/Getty Images)"November 1st, they play against Hull City and Mr Ferguson got a touchline ban and fined £10,000 after confronting Mike Dean the referee for improper conduct. We started a respect campaign with the sending off of Javier Mascherano at Old Trafford by Mike Bennett. This was the referee against Wigan who couldn't see the handball of Rio Ferdinand.
"He didn't give a penalty and they won this game and the title. During the respect campaign, Mr. Ferguson and, this is a fact, he was charged by the FA for improper conduct against Martin Atkinson, he was not punished. He's the only manager in the English league that cannot be punished for these things."
There was more. A lot more. You got the sense at one point that there would be a section entitled 'and now we move onto liars'.
Liverpool topped the table at the time of the speech, but were no longer there by the end of the 2008-09 season. Plenty of people will have their own theories over whether there was a correlation.
Joe Kinnear
Kinnear was at Newcastle when the Mirror's very own Simon Bird incurred the wrath of the former Wimbledon boss. “Which one of you is Simon Bird?” the manager asked. When Bird identified himself, Kinnear simply replied: “You’re a c**t."
Joe Kinnear's tenure as Newcastle manager was short (Getty Images)More four-letter words followed throughout the press conference, which took place just a week into Kinnear's tenure at St James' Park. A press officer attempted to deem the comments off-the-record, but the manager was having none of it.
"Write what you like. Makes no difference to me," he said. "Don’t affect me I assure you.
"It’ll be the last time I see you anyway. Won’t affect me. See how we go at Everton and Chrissy [Chris Hughton] can do it, someone else can do it.
"Don’t trust any of yous. I will pick two local papers and speak to them and the rest can f*** off. I ain’t coming up here to have the piss taken out of me. I have a million pages of crap that has been written about me. I’m ridiculed for no reason. I’m defenceless.
"I can’t get a point in, I can’t say nothing, I can’t do nothing, but I ain’t going to be negative.
"Then, half of you, most of you are trying to get into the players. I’m not going to tell you what the players think of you, so then you try and get into them in some way or another, so I’ve got a split camp or something like that, something like that. It’s ongoing. It just doesn’t stop."
Kevin Keegan
Keegan, like Benitez, ended up involved in an infamous press conference when his team was battling it out for the league title. In his case, though, it was Newcastle in the 1995-96 campaign, with the team surrendering a healthy lead to fall short against Man Utd.
Kevin Keegan's Newcastle missed a golden chance to win the Premier League title (Mirrorpix)United boss Alex Ferguson sparked the rant when claiming Leeds had raised their game against his title-chasers. It didn't go down too well with Keegan, to say the least.
"I've kept really quiet but I'll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that," the Magpies manager said. "We have not resorted to that.
"You can tell him now, we're still fighting for this title and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.
"And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it."
That's the problem with these antics. If you go on to win the league then people will consider it a stroke of genius, or even just look past it.
"If you don't, though, then it becomes the moment you lost it. As we know now, United did get something when they went to Middlesbrough, and Keegan wasn't left loving it."
Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool manager Klopp hasn't always been on the best of terms with interviewees, occasionally snapping back. It was a moment with BT Sport's Des Kelly, though, which lives longest in the memory.
The animosity between the pair began in the 2020-21 season, when Klopp sarcastically congratulated the interviewer over James Milner's injury. The short turnaround between midweek Champions League matches and Saturday lunchtime games in the league was a sore point for the German, and that remained the case the following season.
Jurgen Klopp has made his feelings clear on scheduling issues (PA)Liverpool took on Watford in October 2021, with Klopp deeming the game too early for Brazil duo Alisson and Fabinho after they had played for their country a few days before the Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Once again, Kelly bore the brunt of the criticism of the broadcasting decision.
"It’s not that we thought ‘oh let’s see’, if we would’ve played tonight we could’ve given it a try but we play at 12:30 so there was no chance," he said. "Who was it the idea to bring us at 12:30?
"Was it Watford? If you [BT] wouldn’t have said it we would’ve had to reply, ah yeah thank you for your help, really, thank you, thank you very much."
Mark Molseley
Aldershot boss Mark Molseley was interviewed ahead of an FA Trophy game in January 2022, and his take was... let's say philosophical. That tends to be the language people use when they don't really know what's going on.
"If a tree falls and no one is there to hear it fall, does it make a noise?" the former midfielder began. "Does a penguin get cold?" he continued.
Mark Molesley's interview was one-of-a-kind (Surrey Advertiser)"What way does your bath water go? Clockwise or anticlockwise when you take the plug out? These are questions which are going to be asked of us; these are questions we've got to have the answers to.
"We're always looking for solutions, and we've got to solve the equations sometimes. But Sam's had a lovely haircut, it's started to grow out now, Coops is here working silently away. Robbie's over there, it's the first time he's been quiet today.
"Terry's brought a briefcase in. He's got four Japanese talking dogs in there. But this is what we work with and we'll continue to work hard."
No, we have no idea either. Still, next time we're playing a Sunday league game the first thing we plan to do is go up to the opposition captain and ask them if a penguin gets cold, just to see if an answer is forthcoming.
Alex Ferguson
Ferguson has had more ups than downs during his career (Getty Images)With Ferguson spending decades in the management game, the law of averages suggests he was always going to be good value for a soundbite now and again. In this instance, we're going to take you back to the end of the 2001-02 season.
Manchester United's Champions League dream had ended at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen, while they would soon lose against Arsenal to gift the Gunners the Premier League title. In between, the often unflappable Fergie was anything but.
Accusations of a bust-up between the manager and Juan Sebastian Veron were the topic of conversation. "It's absolute nonsense!" was Ferguson's verdict.
"Absolute nonsense! You know it's nonsense! Absolute lies!" he said.
"I don't believe that you write these things. Anyway that's a-finish, on you go. Get going. On you go! We're no f****** talking! [Veron] is a f****** great player! Youse are f****** idiots!"
Ferguson. Football. Finale. A lot of f-words.