If you did not like Mourinho, it seems that you will not like Scolari either; The Independent’s Andy McSmith reckons he is madder than Mourinho.
Even by the game’s often eccentric standards, Scolari stands out: forthright, sentimental, hot-tempered and fiercely loyal to his players (unless gay). He cuts a swearing and spitting wildman on the touchline, and has been in hot water for his admiration of Chile’s murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet. Devoutly religious, he leads prayer circles, carries iconic statuettes and once required his players to place “holy pebbles” in their socks. Boring, this will not be.
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The new gaffer is unlikely to smile at any camp high jinks: he reportedly declared – jokingly? – in 2002 that: “If I found out that one of my players was gay I would throw him off the team.” Condemned by Brazilian gay groups, Phil insisted he was not homophobic: “My friends include people whose sexual preference is different from my own.” A simple misunderstanding then.
Which is more than can be said for his fist fight with a Serbian player last September. If you type the words “Scolari” and “punch” into YouTube’s search engine you can relive the moment he landed a jab square on the head of Ivica Dragutinovic.
Scolari’s surprised Serbian target was well able to dodge any further flying ham and but for the restraining hold of other players would have pursued the older coach and lamped him back.
Instead, he contented himself by mouthing the words Hijo de Puta – Spanish questioning of Scolari’s maternal parentage. Scolari’s native language is Portuguese, but he understood perfectly. Scolari had been pacing like a caged animal on the touchline, jeered by some of his own supporters. He stormed on to the field to contest a late goal. According to Scolari, he did not start the fight; nor did he actually hit Dragutinovic, and the whole incident was the referee’s fault for allowing that goal. Hmmm. “He was going to hit Quaresma and I defended him,” he said on Portuguese television. “Ask him if I touched one little hair on his head. Who was to blame out there was the referee. Two metres offside!”
A Uefa inquiry reached a different conclusion. Scolari was fined £8,000 and banned for four games. He apologised but said his actions were in the best interest of his players. “It wasn’t my greatest moment, but I won’t let anything happen to my players.” Similarly, when his Portugal captain Luis Figo headbutted Holland’s Mark van Bommel during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Brazilian boss leapt to the defence of his skipper: “Jesus said we should turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, Figo is not Jesus Christ.”
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He looks – and acts – much like Gene Hackman, the Hollywood star whose grizzled face has enlivened classic films such as Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, and the western Unforgiven. Source: Andy McSmith – The Independent.