Two Coaches Walk Into the Sunset

Two of the big names in the annals of football have walked away from coaching their craptastic teams after some months of frustration. Jorge Burruchaga has resigned his position as gaffer of Argentinian first division side Banfield, while Henri Michel has left South African club Mamelodi Sundowns.



Burruchaga saw his Banfield side beat Arsenal (not the EPL version) 2-0 on Friday, but that result was not enough to keep him with the club he had been managing since June. Banfield currently sit 9th in the Clausura, only 5 points off the lead on a 3-1-3 record. Some reports have suggested that his decision was influenced by his tense relationship with Banfield president Carlos Portell. Perhaps Burruchaga thought that he was entitled to make most of the decisions for the club given his status in Argentinian lore for this:





On the other side of the world, Henri Michel reached an agreement with Mamelodi Sundowns after the club were knocked out of the South African Cup as current title-holders on Sunday, following a 4-1 loss to SuperSport United in the Pretoria derby on Thursday. The Cup loss so enraged club supporters that Michel was forced to take refuge amongst riot police who escorted him out of the stadium. After having won Ligue 1 with Nantes 3 times (1973, 1977, 1980) as a player, and leading France to a 3rd-place finish in the 1986 World Cup, Michel went on to manage Cameroon, Morocco (twice), Tunisia, and the Ivory Coast, with all of those countries qualifying for the World Cup during his tenure. Again, perhaps his ego was inflated due to his work in the 1986 World Cup, which featured one of the greatest matches of all time:





All I'm saying is, don't expect Rudi Völler to get into coaching again any time soon.