El Diego slips on old slippers… the controversial ones.

November 14, 2008

Diego Maradona probably knows controversy better than his right foot and has now threatened to walk out on Argentina just days after being appointed as the new national team coach.

The legendary Argentine is reported to be unhappy at attempts by Argentina Football Association boss Julio Grondona wants to block the appointment of Oscar Ruggeri as his assistant.

Maradona, who was only appointed on ten days ago, is set to take charge of his first match next Wednesday when Argentina tackle the Scots at Hampden in a friendly.

But the former Barcelona and Napoli hero insists he will not travel to Scotland unless his choice of backroom staff is fully endorsed.

Maradona said: “I will be the trainer of Argentina with my technical staff I want to work with, otherwise I will not be coming to Glasgow.”

Carlos Bilardo the AFA technical secretary and Maradona’s coach at Sevilla, Boca Juniors and for the natioanl team when they won the World Cup was confident he will not carry out his threat.

Bilardo said: “He won’t resign. I have spoken to Diego and told him he has to go slowly. There are 500 people he can choose to assist him.

“When I coached the national team I had to change my whole staff after four or five months of work.

“But Diego wants them all at once.”

Grondona would not reveal the reasons for his dislike of Ruggeri.

He has apparently an abiding dislike of Ruggeri, unsurprisingly given the history of disputes between the two. In 2007 Ruggeri said Grondona, who is also a FIFA vice-president, should “leave the AFF and go home”. More recently, he described him as “an old man” who was unfit to run the national governing body. For his part, Grondona has not bothered to say precisely what it is that makes him dislike former Argentina defender Ruggeri so much.

“It’s my problem,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about this.” “I don’t like his face,” was all he would say.

Ruggeri, Nicknamed “El Cabezón” - The Big-Headed One, is one of the most successful defenders ever to come out of Argentina, and played with Maradona at Boca and in la Selección.

He said that he will be with Maradona “inside or outside” the team.

Ruggeri also said that he “never” saw Grondona “so nervous” as yesterday, since he blocked him being part of the technical team. In a TV and radio declaration, Ruggeri said that he was “gratefully amazed” with Maradona’s decision on choosing him and felt that he and El Diego are on the same page. Ruggeri also revealed that when Maradona returns from Glasgow, they will continue talking about the issue.

“If there is a possibility to work I’d love it, if not then I will be supporting from outside as I’ve always done,” Ruggeri said.

“I will be with Diego on what he need, from outside, from inside, from everywhere.”

For the match in Scotland, Maradona will be assisted by Alejandro Mancuso and Miguel Angel Lemme… and it was in Glasgow where he scored his first international goal for Argentina and against the Scots.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Written by Andy Clements · Filed Under 2010 World Cup, Main Content

Comments

One Response to “El Diego slips on old slippers… the controversial ones.”

Noura on February 25th, 2009 12:36 am

Maradona is going to shine once more by leading Argentina to victory. Argentina is an amazing team but just needed someone to pull them together. With maradona to the rescue, they are surely going to do well. He has more experience than any coach would dream of having, being one of the best footballers ever.

Got something to say?

El Diego slips on old slippers… the controversial ones.

Related Posts

Comments

Categories

Friends

Archives

Related Sites

Admin

Security Code: