Manuel Preciado Explodes on Mou

You just knew this was going to continue. Mourinho has you in his sites and he´ll go off, distracting attention from his players and sending barrages against seemingly helpless sides at the bottom of the table. He did it all the time at Inter, so why should it be any different in Spain? Well, there´s a different mind-set in Spain and if you push us we will push back. My Mom always said I had the hair-trigger temper of my paternal grandfather and I can see it in my new best friend Manuel Preciado

The problem between the Portuguese tactician and Sporting de Gijon´s Super-Mario-esque coach began after Sporting visited the Camp Nou and apparently, in Mourinho´s terms ¨fielded a B-side against FC Barcelona.¨ That´s when José began with his ¨teams capitulate to Barcelona and gift them wins¨ rant and named Sporting and specifically Preciado as prime examples.

When asked to clarify what he meant on Cadena Ser, Mourinho doubled his efforts against the Cantabrian coach and his Asturian squad. Preciado was not about to be drawn into it until he heard the interview and exploded:

I heard him on the radio and he didn´t just reaffirm his statements, he amplified his argument and almost asked for my head. If that had happened in England, he would have been jailed. His objective? One: a joke, a very poor one obviously. Another could be a provocation at the Barcelona coach, although it won´t work since they won´t respond. He´s deluded. Or the third, which is the one I believe: that he´s telling the truth. If that´s the case then I think he´s a swine and a poor colleague. If they won´t explain the meaning of respect in Madrid, I´l explain it myself. We deserve the same amount of respect that he does; with all his titles and as much the Top-dog that he is. For him to say that Sporting, that kills itself to stay in Primera, that we gift matches? Who the @$!% is he to think and say that? What is that? We are humble, townsfolk and good professionals. I give my hand to anyone but I won´t stay quiet. We´re not made of stone. I am a professional even if this guy doesn´t know me ´cause he comes from another galaxy. I know how to win and how to lose. He´s used to winning, but it´ll happen. He´ll lose. He who spits in the air, spits on himself. I´d like to justify the actions of this man, his off the cuff remarks, but it´s impossible. A guy who comes out making hand gestures (at the fans) in the stadium of Milan, either he´s egocentric or I don´t understand him. If we were going to come out 100%, then now we´re coming out 300%.¨

This reads like Howard Beale´s monologue in Network, where he´s ¨Mad as hell and he ain´t gonna take it anymore!¨, but most will probably compare it to Kevin Keegan´s meltdown against Sir Alex Ferguson. Most of you will probably laugh at the funny looking guy from the funny sounding club in the North of Spain hitting out at the ¨Special One.¨ Isn´t José funny, look at how he gets these guys to react, aren´t his antics funny, and that my friends is where you´re wrong.

You see, enough is enough. Preciado might have gone overboard with the reaction. It may be over the top, but what you´re hearing is the truth. When that spitball finally comes down on Mourinho, when (not if) the luck runs out, there won´t just be one guy standing and applauding, there will be an entire crowd.