Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho hits back at FA over ‘absolutely disgraceful’ £50,000 fine and stadium ban
Chelsea manager says Wenger escaping punishment for his referee criticism shows double standards
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho attacked the Football Association with renewed ferocity last night, calling his £50,000 fine an “absolute disgrace” and his one-game suspended ban “absolutely astonishing”. Just 24 hours after being punished by the FA, Mourinho again said that there was one rule for him and another rule for Arsène Wenger.
The Chelsea manager joked that he was fortunate he had not been electronically tagged, so draconian were the FA’s punishments for his comments about referees. “You [the press] shouldn’t be afraid to write, you won’t be punished and every word I say is a risk,” said Mourinho last night.
“I am happy I don’t have an electronic tag. I think it’s not far from that, but I’m happy I don’t have an electronic tag. I also think that £50,000 in the world where we live today is an absolute disgrace. An absolute disgrace. And I also think that the possibility of getting a stadium ban is also something absolutely astonishing.”
The FA punishment for Mourinho, issued on Wednesday, said that his ban would be invoked if there is a further breach of FA Rule E3, relating to improper conduct and bringing the game into disrepute. The FA was last night understood to be unlikely to view these comments as a fresh breach. Mourinho, speaking at the launch of his new book, went into detail about why he was so upset with his £50,000 fine and why he thought it showed double standards on the part of the FA.
After Chelsea lost 3-1 to Southampton on 3 October, Mourinho said that “referees are afraid to give decisions to Chelsea”. These comments were thought, by the FA, to have “alleged and/or implied bias on the part of match officials”.
Mourinho pointed to how Arsene Wenger had called Mike Dean “weak” and “naïve” after the infamous incident between Diego Costa and Gabriel, comments which did not lead to an FA charge.
“It is more difficult for me to understand is when I compare different people with different behaviours or with similar behaviours, with different words or with similar words,” he said.
“I know I’m not English. I know my English is just good enough to work in this country, but is not perfect. But the difference between “afraid” and “weak and naive”, the difference is £50,000 and a one-match stadium ban.”
“The word “afraid” is a punishment – and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was “weak and naive”, referring to one of the top referees in this country and in Europe [Mike Dean], we can do. The only good thing of this last decision by the FA is that every manager in this country can write in a little book and, when he goes to the press conference, he knows that “afraid” costs £50,000. Weak and naïve, you can use.”
Mourinho also pointed to how Wenger went unpunished for his touchline confrontation with the Chelsea manager when the teams met at Stamford Bridge in October 2014. “There is something that, now, we know,” he said. “We can push people in the technical area. We can, no problem. So anything in the technical area, we can push.
“A word is more important than aggression. It’s good for everyone. It’s the only reason I can still walk in London without an electronic tag.”
Mourinho also confronted the reported ‘mutiny’ from his squad, giving a long rehearsed list of his players who have praised him, leading him to conclude that the only ones who could possibly have an issue with him were fringe players Papy Djilobodji, Baba Rahman and Radamel Falcao, as well as Oscar.
“Asmir Begovic said we had the best manager in the world,” Mourinho said. “Kurt Zouma the same. JT: we have the manager we want, the one who can help us to revive this situation.
“Diego Costa: if you ask every player in the world, they will all answer the same, that they’d like to work with three managers and one of them is this one.”
“Who else? Cesc Fabregas, the same. Ramires, the same. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the same. Gary Cahill, the same. Eden Hazard, very similar. So I think the mutiny must be... must be Baba, Baba... who else? Papy? Falcao? Oscar? So these four don’t play Saturday for sure.”
Mourinho said that he would like his next book to start with his current crisis, during what is the worst run of results of his whole career.
“The first [chapter of a future book] would be the moment I’m living now,” he said, “with four defeats in eight Premier League matches, with two defeats in home which is more than the defeats I’d had in the previous 100 matches at home. But this will be the beginning of the next book, for sure.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments