MANC REF PUTS JOSE NOSE OUT OF JOINT
Special One faces FA rap over Taylor talk
Jose Mourinho faces an FA rap after warning that Mancunian referee Anthony Taylor faces an impossible job at Anfield tomorrow night.
Taylor has been tasked with taking charge of Liverpool ’s explosive clash with Manchester United despite the fact he was born-and-bred just a few miles away from Old Trafford.
Liverpool fans have been quick to pile the pressure on the ref by predicting he’ll give their side nothing and Mourinho has now waded in by voicing his concern about the issue.
The United boss said: “I think Mr Taylor is a good referee but I think somebody with intention is putting such pressure on him that I feel it will be difficult for him to have a good performance.
“I have my view but I learned a lesson from the FA for saying some words about referees.”
The 37- year- old hails from Wythenshawe – the same district as United striker Marcus Rashford – and former referees’ chief Keith Hackett has also criticised the decision to hand him the game.
And Mourinho has risked an FA charge as managers are prohibited from talking about individual referees both before and after games.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has refused to comment on Taylor’s appointment. But his predecessor Brendan Rodgers was fined £8,000 after questioning the integrity of Manchester referee Lee Mason after a defeat at Manchester City in 2013.
Hackett’s criticism of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) will put Taylor under intense scrutiny.
Hackett, who was re sponsible for al locating match officials when he was general manager of the PGMOL, believes that Newcast lebased Mark Clattenburg should have been given the high-profile clash.
Unlike in Scotland, refs in England are required to disclose which team they support and can’t of f iciate in any games involving their favourite club.
Last season, Leicestershirebased Kevin Friend was removed from Spurs’ clash with Stoke because he is a Leicester fan as taking charge of a game involving the Foxes’ title rivals was viewed as a conflict of interest.
Tranmere fan Mike Dean was unable to referee the 2006 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and West Ham just because he is based on Merseyside.
Taylor, though, has now been put in the spotlight and every decision he makes tomorrow night will be under huge scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Mourinho insists he takes no extra satisfaction from beating Liverpool.
The United boss has his own history with the Merseysiders, stretching back to 2005 when Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ against Chelsea took Rafa Benitez’s men through to the Champions League Final in Istanbul. Mourinho avenged that defeat when he masterminded a smash- and- grab raid of his own two years ago, beating Liverpool 2- 0 and handing the Premier Leag ue tit le to Manchester City.
Now the Special One has handed down the ultimate insult to Klopp and The Kop by branding their club big but nothing special.
He said: “For me playing Liverpool is just to play against a big club. In Madrid, I wanted to play against Barcelona and I wanted to play against Atletico and against Valencia.
“At Inter, I wanted to play against Milan, against Juventus, against Roma. At Chelsea, I wanted to play against Man United, against Liverpool , against Arsenal, against all the big clubs in the country.
“And now at Man United it is the same so I love to play against the big opponents – and Liverpool is a big opponent.
“I celebrated in 2014 because of what happened before that particular match.
“Chelsea had a Champions League semi-final to play and we wanted to play Liverpool on the Saturday because the Champions League was on the Tuesday.
“What happened was that we had to play on the Sunday when Atletico Madrid were playing on the Friday.
“So we felt that match was set- up for Liverpool to be champions. In fact we went there with the players that were not playing against Atletico because we had no chance of the title.”
It is a source of great pride at Old Trafford that in the 26 years since Liverpool last won the league they have been overtaken by United.
The Red Devils now lead 20-18 in title triumphs.
And while Jurgen Klopp may have ignited a f lame of fresh optimism on the red side of Merseyside, Mourinho refused to acknowledge Liverpool as genuine contenders for the Premier League.
“That is not my problem,” he said. “It is not for me to say that they are or they are not championship contenders.
“You have to ask them.”
I learned a lesson from the FA for saying words about referees