Santos fired coach Dorival Junior yesterday because of what the organization’s officials would refer to as a “break in trust.” Junior had previously agreed with club officials to suspend Brazilian teenage sensation Neymar for just one match following a curse-laden tirade that the eighteen year old launched at his coach and teammates last week, but when Junior later admitted to the staff that he would bench Neymar for yet another match this Wednesday against Corinthians the side decided to let the coach go rather then agreeing with the one extra game suspension.
Club president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro was quite unhappy with his coach for abusing his authority and the president made this following statement about the sudden removal of his coach from his contract:
The agreement that had been reached was (ignored). There was an absolute lack of flexibility.
And Junior’s firing was a bit of a shock considering he was merely trying to teach the brash eighteen year old a lesson about his behavior on the pitch. I mean Nikolas Anelka was basically banned for life for performing a similar act in his side’s locker room and Neymar was only benched for one match before Junior was let go for performing a tirade on the pitch. Neymar was suspended by the team due to his unruly behavior in a match when Junior decided to select another penalty taker late in the match. Neymar verbally assaulted the coach while stile playing on the pitch and the argument was rumored to have spread into the locker room after the match as well and Neymar threw a hissy fit for not being allowed to take the penalty kick in a match the side won anyway.
It appears that Santos doesn’t mind putting their budding star on a pedestal considering his value is worth so much more than any coach in the Brazilian league. But punishing his coach severely for an incident that occurred because of the star player’s negative attitude is not only unfair to the coach and the team (considering he insulted them as well), but it is basically notifying Neymar that he can do no wrong and should always get his way if he wants to.
Neymar might be the next Ronaldo or Ronaldinho, but at the end of the day he is still an eighteen year kid that has yet to prove really anything on a global level. In other words Neymar is an immature, cocky, and hot tempered child that is used to getting his way and Santos seems to be promoting these types of charades by firing the one man that attempted to stand in his way.
Allowing Neymarto get away with such selfish actions and even punishing those that try to teach him a lesson can create a negative situation for the league sideconsidering their prized footballer is only eighteen years old. But Junior decided to be a class act despite his removal from the manager post and the coach admitted that despite the bust-up of the league side, he still respects Neymar as a player, but believes the punishment was justified:
He is like a son to me. But he made a mistake and had to be punished.
This Wednesday Neymar and Santos took on Corinthians without their coach. Junior is expected to fulfill the vacant post at Sao Paulo.
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