JOSE FACING STADIUM BAN
FA charge him over latest rant at referee Chelsea boss swore and told ref: You’re soft
JOSE MOURINHO faces the threat of a stadium ban after refusing to leave the referee’s room during his showdown with Jon Moss at Upton Park on Saturday.
The Chelsea manager heaped more shame on the club after the FA charged him and his assistant Silvino Louro with misconduct following Saturday’s chaotic 2-1 defeat against West Ham.
Chelsea and West Ham have also been charged separately for failing to control their players during two controversial incidents just before half-time.
The FA acted last night after reviewing referee Moss’s extraordinary incident report detailing Mourinho’s behaviour during the interval. There is also the possibility that the disciplinary commission will recommend — or instruct — Mourinho to take
an anger management course. Among a stream of insults aimed at Moss as the teams and coaching staff made their way down the tunnel at halftime, Mourinho told him: ‘ Wenger was right — you are ****ing soft’.
That could relate to Moss failing to adequately censure Arsene Wenger when the Arsenal manager shoved him during an altercation at Stamford Bridge in October 2014. Moss was the fourth official when the incident took place and Chelsea’s manager has always believed that he would have been severely punished by the FA had he been the offender.
Mourinho was already at risk of a stadium ban for his post-match comments following Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat against Southampton at Stamford Bridge on October 3.
The Chelsea manager is appealing against his £50,000 fine and suspended, one-match stadium ban. It is expected to be heard by the FA’s regulatory commission before they play Liverpool on Saturday. Mourinho has until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the latest charge.
A stadium ban for this latest offence would be the most severe punishment, but he could also be suspended from the touchline or fined.
According to FA rules, he would be ‘banned from attending, at any time on the match day, the stadium or the ground at which Chelsea’s first team plays its next match in an approved competition’. In addition, the Chelsea manager would not be allowed access to any part of the stadium site on matchday and would not be allowed any contact with his players or coaching staff.
The FA confirmed last night that Mourinho’s previous behaviour will be taken into account at the hearing and that they also have wide-ranging powers in terms of punishments.
After he was branded ‘an enemy of football’ by UEFA and banned for a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, Mourinho famously hid in a kit skip to take the pre-match team talk in the dressing room at Stamford Bridge.
His ban for poking former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova in the eye while at Real Madrid was rescinded in an attempt to soothe relations between the bitter La Liga rivals.
Moss’s statement is supported by his two assistant referees and the fourth official, who were all in the room at the time of Mourinho’s alleged misconduct.
If he is banned from the touchline he will still be allowed to conduct a pre-match and half-time team talk, but he will not be allowed to sit on the sidelines.
Instead he will be permitted to use a ‘ runner’ or to communicate with the remaining assistants by phone during the game from a seat in the stands.
Although the FA have made it clear that Mourinho could still be fined for Saturday’s behaviour, the last commission had tired of financial penalties and admitted they were no longer an adequate deterrent.
Chelsea lost their cool again after they mistakenly believed Kurt Zouma’s header had crossed the line, but the goalline decision technology proved otherwise.
Nemanja Matic, who was cautioned shortly after Chelsea’s disallowed effort, was then sent off for a second booking in the 36th minute.
Louro was dismissed just before half- time after he encroached on to the field of play and he has now been charged by the FA for misconduct in relation to the incident that led to him being sent to the stands.
Chelsea have already incurred a mandatory £25,000 fine for exceeding five bookings in a Premier League game. But that is nothing compared to the damage to the club’s reputation as Mourinho continues his one-man war with the FA and the game’s governing bodies. He has lost control in recent weeks and Saturday’s exchange has increased fears at the club that he is unable to turn this desperate situation around.
He returned to the club’s training base yesterday morning to prepare for this evening’s Capital One Cup tie with Stoke City and left at lunchtime with his son Jose junior.
This is a huge week for Mourinho and he is expected to be fired by Roman Abramovich if Chelsea are beaten by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The FA are also growing weary of Mourinho and they made it clear in their previous judgment, for comments about the performance of referee Robert Madley, that fines were no longer an adequate punishment for a man paid £10m a year by Chelsea alone.
The first Premier League manager to incur a stadium ban was Alan Pardew after he butted Hull City defender David Meyler at the KC Stadium in 2014. Pardew, then in charge at Newcastle, was banned from the touchline for seven games — three of them from the stadium.
Despite the problems at Stamford Bridge, Stoke manager Mark Hughes claims Mourinho is irreplaceable and billed him as the greatest manager in the club’s history.
The Welshman, who played for Chelsea from 1995 to 1998, said: ‘ Who would you replace Jose Mourinho with to get an uplift out of your club? It doesn’t ring true for me. Jose’s the best manager Chelsea have ever had so why would they change?
‘The only way you turn it around is by winning games. Jose will have more chance than anyone of doing that at Chelsea.
‘You get together as a group at these times and I think Jose is strong in that regard.’
Hughes reckons Mourinho is experiencing the toughest phase of a managerial career which has also included stints at Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
He hopes his Stoke players can take advantage of Chelsea’s current struggles because he expects Mourinho’s side to rediscover their best form in the near future.
‘The clubs that he has been at have always been top clubs and have probably had very few periods where he’s lost the number of games he has in quick succession,’ said Hughes. ‘ Normal service will be resumed. They’ll be back on track.’