Igor Stimac backs Josko Jelicic and says he would not have tolerated Gennaro Gattuso’s behaviour after TV row

Former Croatia coach Igor Stimac says Gennaro Gattuso’s behaviour in his public spat with television analyst Josko Jelicic was “not befitting a coach of Hajduk Split”.

Gattuso took umbrage at Jelicic’s criticism of him and his team following Hajduk’s 3-0 defeat to title rivals Rijeka on Sunday, refusing to shake his hand or speak to him during a post-match interview.

Things got heated between Joško Jeličić and Gennaro Gattuso after the match. pic.twitter.com/NZEd6Qe04x

— Croatian Football (@CroatiaFooty) March 16, 2025

Stimac sides with best man Jelicic

Stimac, who won the Croatian title with Hajduk as a player and coach, was unimpressed, although he did admit to having a strong bond with Jelicic.

He told the www.sportske.jutarnji.hr website: “Although I was Joško’s best man at his wedding, and we are very good friends, I have no reason to be subjective. 

“What Gattuso did is not befitting him, as a world champion, not befitting him as the coach of Hajduk, and not befitting him as a foreigner in this country, not to respect those who comment on matches. 

“Regardless of Joško’s certain cynicism, with which he knows how to spice up his commentary, which is impeccable, we can analyse everything he said, and there is not a single bit of a lie there. 

“So, he hits exactly where he needs to, analyses matches, and makes his commentary that 99 per cent of people agree with. Some are against his style, but it obviously suits TV. Maybe he sometimes goes a little too far, but he does his job.”

Stimac suggests Gattuso would have been sacked if he was Croatian

Sunday’s defeat saw Hajduk slip to second, two points behind table-toppers Rijeka and Stimac questioned Gattuso’s impact in Split since taking over in June last year.

“What has he brought to Hajduk?” he added. “I believe that as long as Hajduk, Dinamo [Zagreb], Osijek and Rijeka do not insist on both results and the [quality of] play, our football and the league will not go in the right direction. 

“And that must be the priority of every coach, because the clubs pay them very well. 

“I ask a logical question. How many of us Croats would Hajduk have sacked if our team played like Gattuso’s? He is being overlooked the whole time.

“You shoot at the goal once, you give absolutely nothing, your team has no standards, you have no coordination, you have no connected movements, you have no combinations, you have nothing. 

“Several players continuously played in the wrong positions, and you still dare after such a game, after a 3-0 defeat, to come to the studio and threaten.”

He was lucky I wasn’t there…

Stimac was a no-nonsense centre-half in a playing career that included stints at West Ham and Derby and he is not sure he would have been able to contain himself in the way Jelicic did in the face of Gattuso’s hostility.

“He was lucky that I wasn’t there,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been good. I wouldn’t have put up with it, all credit to Jelicic.”