JOSE DODGING BULLETS
Mourinho on the back foot but won’t admit he is wrong Pressure mounts as Dr Eva storm continues to rage
AN ANGRY Jose Mourinho last night refused to back down over his decision to axe doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn.
The two medics, who were labelled ‘naive’ by Chelsea’s manager, will not be involved in tomorrow’s trip to Manchester City after a week of behind-the-scenes rows.
Mourinho yesterday threatened to storm out of his press conference as he was grilled about his criticism of the way they went on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard near the end of last weekend’s draw with Swansea.
‘The bench is my responsibility,’ he said. ‘I have seven assistants, only four can go on the bench. With the medical department, only two go on the bench, and we have more than a dozen.’
While reinstating Carneiro and Fearn seems unlikely, Mourinho left the door open for them to return to the bench this season and admitted he has made mistakes in the past.
‘I am far from being ruthless,’ he said. ‘I have a fantastic relationship with almost everyone that works with me. I’m open to mistakes, I’m open to communication, I’m open to dialogue, I’m open to critics, I make mistakes.
‘And as some people in medical staff were saying to me yesterday, we work together, we i mprove together.’
His threat to abandon the press conference seemed real enough. ‘Don’t make me another question or I go,’ he warned. ‘Think twice before you ask the question. Think twice.’
But the question came anyway, a newspaper reporter asking if Carneiro and Fearn had attended what he insisted was a cordial meeting with his medical staff on Thursday.
Mourinho sprang to his feet. ‘Now I go, have a good weekend,’ he said.
Only he did not go. He flounced, he stood by the door, his attempts to appear angry and intimidating undermined by the tracksuit and flip-flop-sock combination.
He wore a look that accused his tormentors of not playing by the rules. Of trying to seduce him into doing something he might regret.
Steve Atkins, Chelsea’s communications director, urged Mourinho to sit back down and he duly did, but he would talk only about football — not about a controversy he had caused by publicly humiliating a respected sports physician.
In fairness, Mourinho was always going to be limited as to what he could say yesterday. There were obvious legal implications given Dr Carneiro’s decision to hire lawyers for what might well turn out to be a case of constructive dismissal.
SOME of his answers might even have been prepared by t he cl ub’s human resources department. The suggestion that Carneiro and Fearn could yet reappear sometime on the bench certainly sounded a little rehearsed.
But this was far from Mourinho’s finest performance in what has been far from his finest hour. He has behaved appallingly and yesterday there were moments when he was every bit as arrogant as he slipped back into the character of the one-time enemy of football.
If he had been briefed by the communications staff, it is difficult to imagine that his opening remarks in the broadcast section of the press conference followed the script.
Asked if Carneiro and Fearn would be on the bench tomorrow and whether he had regrets about his conduct, he responded by noting how many reporters were crammed inside the small media room.
‘I hope this room is full because the champions are going to play against the former champions, because the transfer window was on fire, because you have, hopefully, a big match on Sunday,’ he said.
‘But I knew it already, it wasn’t a surprise, your question. Probably there are some here who don’t like f ootball and come f or other reasons.’
The media were there in numbers because he had done more than censure Chelsea’s team doctor. He had sparked an ethical debate about the authority of the medical staff and so ventured into dangerous territory.
That the medical profession has united in condemning him, most notably FIFA’s chief medical officer, should tell Mourinho he was wrong to lash out.
But there was no sense of remorse. He admitted to being human enough to make the occasional mistake but also tried to claim other members of his medical staff accept that public criticism, however scathi ng, is f ai r if i t helps r ai se standards.
Asked to discuss concerns raised by medical professionals, Mourinho pleaded the fifth.
‘I am not going to discuss it,’ he snapped. ‘We don’t stop you making the questions, but you cannot make me answer. I don’t answer.’ He was told he should. ‘You shouldn’t ask,’ he replied before admitting that the well-being of the athlete is paramount.
‘The player is more important than the result. He is more important than the manager, even more important than the referee.’
What he would not accept was the power and responsibility he has as the arguably the most influential football manager in the world.
‘Power? Oh my word. Jesus Christ! Power of what?’ he said. ‘The only power I have is to choose the team, to choose who is on the bench, which direction we try to take our game plan.
‘That is not power. I have no power.’
Only he does, and the sooner he remembers that the better.