ON THE ROPES
Jose banned from stadium for vital clash Chelsea may lure Ancelotti AND Makelele
JOSE MOURINHO has been banned by the FA from the match expected to determine if he survives as Chelsea manager.
The Portuguese, fighting for his job after suffering a sixth Barclays Premier League defeat of the season against Liverpool on Saturday, will not be allowed inside the Britannia Stadium when his team meet Stoke this weekend, after being given a one-match ban and a £40,000 fine.
And on another dramatic day at Stamford Bridge, Carlo Ancelotti and Claude Makelele emerged as a possible Chelsea dream ticket if Mourinho is sacked.
Ancelotti and Makelele worked together for two years at Paris Saint-Germain before going their separate ways in 2013.
Both enjoyed success at Chelsea, both remain popular among the supporters and both are out of work. Ancelotti left Real Madrid last summer and Makelele was
sacked within six months of leaving PSG for his first managerial job at another French club, Bastia.
Ancelotti is in London — on holiday he insists — and the Italian is by no means certain to accept the offer of a return to the job he lost in 2011, when he was sacked a year after winning the Double.
But the 56-year-old hinted he was ready for a Premier League return yesterday, saying: ‘When you are a manager, you have to be ready to travel everywhere. In England I felt very well. I am sure that I won’t miss the dugout until June. From July, I will be ready to go.’
Mourinho was hit with a misconduct charge after being sent to the stands in his side’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham last month. And while he is still expected to travel to Stoke and watch the game from the team hotel, the ban could not come at a more difficult time, given it was only last week that Chelsea lost at Stoke in the Capital One Cup.
An Independent Regulatory Commission confirmed Mourinho’s punishment takes immediate effect, although an appeal could delay it. Mourinho and Chelsea will decide how to respond once they have received the FA’s written reasons for the ban later this week.
An FA statement read: ‘Jose Mourinho admitted an FA charge of misconduct regarding his language and/or behaviour towards the match officials in or around the dressing room area during half-time of the game against West Ham.’
The FA also confirmed they had withdrawn a misconduct charge against Chelsea coach Silvino Louro after an incident during the same game, having ‘considered further representation’.
Earlier, Mourinho discovered he will be sued for personal damages by former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro in addition to the constructive dismissal claim she is bringing against the Premier League champions.
Legal papers will be served on him by Carneiro’s legal team this week and could result in him having to appear in person at an employment tribunal, should the case not be settled out of court.
Mourinho would have to appear in court irrespective of whether he remains Chelsea manager because, under employment law, an individual can be personally liable for damages if victimisation or discrimination can be proved.
The claim made against Mourinho will be on the basis that he was central to the decision by Chelsea to strip Carneiro of her first-team duties at the club.
Mourinho was highly critical of Carneiro and physiotherapist Jon Fearn for responding to a request by the referee to treat Eden Hazard during the Premier League match with Swansea in August. At the time a fuming Mourinho called the pair ‘impulsive and naive’.
It marked the end of Carneiro’s involvement with the Chelsea first team and she is now pursuing a constructive dismissal claim after leaving Stamford Bridge. Edward Belam, an employment lawyer at Howard Kennedy, said: ‘This could be a substantial compensation claim. ‘ Her claim for constructive unfair dismissal would be against the club, but she can also bring discrimination claims against Jose Mourinho over his acts of alleged discrimination, and seek compensation for loss of earnings and up to £30,000 for injury to feelings. ‘She will no doubt argue that the compensation should be at the higher end due to the media attention and effect on her reputation.’ The FA have cleared Mourinho of using discriminatory language towards Carneiro during the Swansea game, with focus at the FA now switching to the validity of a subsequent investigation into Heather Rabbatts, who is on the governing body’s board. As Sportsmail revealed, two members of the FA Council called for an investigation into Rabbatts following her public defence of Carneiro and criticism of the FA investigation into Mourinho — in particular the failure to call any witnesses, Carneiro included.
Richard McDermott, the FA’s company secretary, revealed 70-year- old Richard Tur and 82-year- old Ron Barston had made formal complaints against the FA’s first female director, sparking a process that could see her fired from the board.
It is now widely accepted at the FA, though, that Oxford University FA chairman Tur never made a formal complaint, raising further questions about the FA’s handling of the controversy.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn, to whom McDermott reports, and head of governance Darren Bailey are set to be quizzed about the handling of the Mourinho case by Rabbatts’ Inclusion Advisory Board later this month.