Salva Ballesta, a former footballer, never made any secret of the fact that he felt very Spanish.
400km into his journey to take up his new co-coach position with Celta de Vigo, a Galician football team, he received a call to say that he was no longer welcome to the position.
He had been told that he had the job, but had not signed a contract.
The club claimed the decision was made for "political reasons."
On a tv programme called Punta Pelota, Ballesta said "If there's a Basque or Catalan who doesn't feel Spanish, he has to put up with it because he was born in Spain."
Admittedly, it's not the only time he's made unfavourable comments about the Basques or Catalans, or made strong pro-Spanish comments that have riled feathers.
Spanish readers can check out an article on Salva Ballesta's Most Controversial Statements.
Others, like Catalan journalist Lluís Mascaró, have the opposite view. On the same programme, Mascaró stated "Iniesta's goal in the final of the [Football] World Cup left me completely indifferent. If they had lost against Holland, I would have felt exactly the same."
ARTICLES
Celta decides against signing Salva Ballesta due to his political ideology
Marca.com
Salva Ballesta, demasiado español para el Celta
ABC.es, Mariano Pozo
Salva Ballesta: "Si hay algún vasco o catalán que no se siente español, se tiene que joder porque ha nacido en España"
24POR7.com, José Pablo González
Lluís Mascaró: "No me siento español. Cuando España ganó el Mundial me dio exactamente igual"
24POR7.com, Boris Latermann
Veto ideológico a Salva Ballesta
El País,Juan L. Cudeiro
