Mourinho spared stand as medic accepts ‘£5m’ Chelsea payoff
JOSE MOURINHO escaped a public trial over his alleged sexist abuse of Eva Carneiro last night after he and Chelsea agreed a payoff with their former firstteam doctor moments before she was due to testify against them.
Mourinho turned up unannounced at Dr Carneiro’s employment tribunal yesterday to help bring an abrupt end to her constructive dismissal and sex discrimination claim.
It took the full length of a match – plus stoppage time – for the new Manchester United manager and senior lieutenants of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to thrash out a settlement with Dr Carneiro at Croydon’s London South Employment Tribunal.
As well as a payoff reported at £5 million, far above the £1.2 million the football club claimed on Monday that she had snubbed, the 42-year-old also received the fulsome public apology she had been demanding – albeit not from Mourinho himself.
The statement was in stark contrast to the skeleton argument submitted by the club and Mourinho 24 hours earlier, in which they denied any wrongdoing and sought to paint Carneiro as fame-hungry and money-grabbing. Instead, Chelsea finally acknowledged that Carneiro had done nothing wrong during the incident that saw her demoted by Mourinho and led to her leaving her £280,000 post at the club: running on to the pitch to treat player Eden Hazard against Swansea City last year.
Chelsea said: “The club regrets the circumstances which led to Dr Carneiro leaving the club and apologises unreservedly to her and her family for the distress caused. We wish to place on record that, in running on to the pitch, Dr Carneiro was following both the rules of the game and fulfilling her responsibility to the players as a doctor, putting their safety first. Dr Carneiro has always put the interests of the club’s players first. Dr Carneiro is a highly competent and professional sports doctor. She was a valued member of the club’s medical team and we wish her every success in her future career.
“Jose Mourinho also thanks her for the excellent and dedicated support she provided as first-team doctor and he wishes her a successful career.”