WikiLeaks released State Department documents in which an American diplomat calls Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “the George Steinbrenner of Iran” regarding what the Associated Press refers to as “the meddling with his country’s national soccer team.”
Naturally the AP went to Steinbrenner’s son and Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner for comment and he called it “a ridiculous comparison” and “obviously very inappropriate.”
Ahmadinejad, who’s a former soccer player, reportedly “used his position to influence the firing of two coaches in a matter of weeks” and has “repeated violations of soccer’s governing body’s rules against political interference.”
As the AP notes, Steinbrenner fired 21 managers in 37 years as Yankees owner and was suspended for two years in the 1980s for allegedly paying a gambler to obtain information about Dave Winfield. In fairness to The Boss, any comparison to Ahmadinejad should probably end right there.