FA EXPLAIN MOURINHO SANCTION

THE FA insist they had to issue Jose Mourinho with a suspended stadium ban because £101,000 in disciplinary fines since 2013 failed to improve his behaviour. The Chelsea manager, who returned to Stamford Bridge two years ago, was fined £50,000 — in addition to the possible ban — for saying referee Robert Madley had been ‘afraid’ to award his team a penalty in a 3-1 defeat against Southampton. The FA have now published the reasons for their decision. A statement read: ‘It appears that increasing levels of fine are not on their own going to be a reliable deterrent for Mr Mourinho against improper comments to the media. ‘We have in mind particularly that the more than doubling of the January 2015 fine as compared with the May 2014 fine has not deterred him from this latest and more serious breach. ‘In our judgment the fair way to impose this deterrent is to suspend the ban so that Mr Mourinho is able quite easily to avoid it ever coming into effect. The matter is in his hands.’ The FA’s three-man panel threw out Mourinho’s comments on English not being his first language. ‘His English is far too sophisticated for that to affect our conclusion, as the interviews themselves demonstrate,’ they said. Ahead of tonight’s Champions League game against Dynamo Kiev, Mourinho insisted Chelsea could complete an historic quadruple despite a poor start to the season. He said: ‘We can win all four trophies. I think we can win all four but also lose all four. Everything is open.’ Defeat in Kiev would leave their hopes of a second Champions League title teetering. ‘It is a big game,’ he said. ‘We have a tactical plan to get the right result. It is important to concentrate and keep our discipline.’