New Rangers loan star Fabio Silva's dad had to step in to defend his son after a bizarre row between him and Anderlecht boss Brian Riemer sparked by an access-all-areas TV documentary on the Belgian club.
The £35 million starlet has joined the Ibrox club on loan from Wolves in what is regarded as a major coup for Philippe Clement's side.
Silva was first sent on loan to Clement's homeland last year and spent six months at Anderlecht, but things went wrong when their current boss, Danish coach Riemer, took charge.
Anderlecht invited cameras into their dressing rooms for a fly-on-the-wall TV series Mauve and an episode showed Riemer screaming at Silva for a defensive mistake that cost them a goal against Brugge.
Riemer later dropped Silva and explained: "I only want players who want to fight and die for Anderlecht."
That infuriated Silva and his father Jorge, who was a former international defender who won the Portuguese League with Boavista.
And he revealed he had to personally step in to defend his son, who then immediately moved to PSV Eindhoven on loan for the rest of the season instead.
Silva senior said: "At first he really enjoyed the style of football that Anderlecht played. We deliberately chose to go to them on loan because of the way Vincent Kompany had them playing, but he left and eventually, Brian Riemer came in and everything changed.
"Fabio is not Cristiano Ronaldo who dribbles past four or five opponents before scoring a goal. He needs support. But instead, he was receiving long balls, difficult balls or no balls. And they hoped he would perform a miracle.
"The match at Brugge was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Yes, the manager reprimanded him for the goal conceded which was on the TV series.
"No one is more critical of Fabio than me and he should have done better, but the sole reason for the defeat? Really?
"After that, we decided that enough was enough.
"Fabio had a meeting with Riemer. They both agreed he should leave and shook hands and wished each other good luck.
"The next thing was Riemer saying he only wanted players who would die for him on the pitch and that's why Fabio wasn't included.
"What particularly offended me is that I have witnessed a player die on the pitch when Miklos Feher had a heart attack in 2005 when playing for Benfica. Those words had no place in football. It was disgraceful.
"Riemer implied that my son didn't give everything for Anderlecht. However, there is no more professional player than him.
"I'll tell you something, the Anderlecht president used him as an example for his attitude and he played on more than ten occasions with an injury to help the club. He asked his personal trainer and physio to accompany him to Brussels to get back on track faster and to help Anderlecht. Is that a bad mentality? What other player on loan would do that?
"Riemer gave a message to the supporters that Fabio did not want to get his jersey wet for Anderlecht. It was disgusting. If you have something to say, say it to his face.
"Fabio left because of the style they played. He can't play in a long ball team. And he wanted to play in a successful team.
"Ultimately, Anderlecht helped relaunch his career because he scored 11 goals in an average team with one striker. But he wants to win trophies."
