Chaos on the touchline, but officials were ready for this to kick off

The touchline bust-up between Jose Mourinho and Marco Ianni is the type of incident referees encounter a handful of times in a career, but there is a comprehensive plan in place for how to deal with it.

It would have started around 75 minutes before kick-off when Mike Dean sat down with the match delegate, the police and the head of security to discuss all manner of scenarios.

One of those would have been what to do if it all kicked off between the two benches. The fact Mourinho was prevented from getting to Ianni by two big, burly stewards was no coincidence – those men are placed by the entrance to the tunnel for that exact reason.

You will also notice that as the melee took place, neither Mike nor his fourth official were directly involved. That is because their job is to step back, observe, then ensure they either discipline those involved at the time or in the follow-up process that occurs after every match.

In fact, every incident that took place in what seemed like absolute chaos on Saturday is planned-for as much as possible by the officials.

You might say you cannot legislate for a member of the coaching staff goading the Manchester United manager, but officials can and do.

At the time, that meant leaving the security guards to do their job, but from the moment the dust settled, Mike would have been well aware he had to ensure the incident was followed up correctly.

To do that, he will have spent his Saturday night logged on to the Match Official Administration System, the online portal where every referee in the top four divisions logs in the details of their match and any incidents that might be worthy of investigation.

Mike and his team will have decided whether to include incidents beyond regular issues such as yellow or red cards. They have done so with the incident between Mourinho and Ianni, which is no surprise.

The FA reads the report, reviews any video footage and decides whether to proceed further.

I have no doubt it will do so in this instance, and that means asking each club for their views and speaking to the referee again.

This may lead to a disciplinary case, and if so, the referee appears as a key witness. to describe events as he saw them, without embellishing or taking sides. He is fine to say who he felt was at fault, but would also be asked if the reaction was necessary.

This is where Mourinho may be in trouble.

One thing you cannot legislate for is who is on the FA panel that hears the case. It consists of an FA official, a former referee and a former player or manager. It is often luck of the draw who hears your case, which is why some punishments can seem random.

That is not the case with the system, however. It was chaos on the touchline, but it was controlled – or as controlled as it could be.

Keith Hackett is a former referee, and his e-book, You are the Ref, is out now