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This Coach Says He Was Fired For Not Playing His Team's Owner Against Barcelona

Anatoly Korobochka might have the funniest horrible boss story ever. 

Korobochka was brought in to do front office stuff Hearts in the Scottish Premier League by owner Vladimir Romanov in 2006. In 2007, in the absence of a real manager, Korobochka was given the job even though he couldn't really speak English. 

That summer, Hearts played a friendly against Barcelona.

We'll let Korobochka take it from here. According to the Edinburgh Evening News:

“We played Barcelona in a friendly match and there were almost 60,000 fans there. Ronaldinho was at his peak and [Barcelona] were terrific.

“Before the game, Romanov approached me and told me he wants to play in the game. He wanted me to pick him. He wasn’t joking. I refused and told him he had done no training and therefore he couldn’t play. He said to me: ‘Fine, but you will not be the coach for long.’ He sacked me soon after.”

What fun is owning a soccer team if you can't just wantonly insert yourself into the starting lineup against the best team in the world? 

Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus

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