Embattled Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho has responded to the charges leveled against him by the Football Association.
“I’m happy that I don’t have an electronic tag,” said the Special One, who was speaking at Waterstones Piccadilly to promote his book MOURINHO.
“£50,000 is a disgrace. The possibility of getting a stadium ban is astonishing.”
Yes, that was the punishment inflicted upon Mourinho after he admitted that he was in violation of FA Rules regarding post-match media comments. The Chelsea manager’s misconduct charges stem from the 3-1 loss to Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 3 October 2015.
“The difference between afraid and weak and naive is £10,000 and one-match stadium ban,” said Mourinho today, who will be banned from the stadium if he speaks out of turn again in the next 12 months.
“Afraid costs £50,000. Weak and naive — you can do it.”
The FA statement reads, in part:
It was alleged his remarks constituted improper conduct in that they alleged and/or implied bias on the part of a match official or match officials and/or brought the game into disrepute.
Mr Mourinho’s suspended stadium ban will be immediately invoked should he be found by an Independent Regulatory Commission to have committed a further breach of FA Rule E3 for any comment or statement to or through the media before 13 October 2016.
Mourinho went on a seven minute rant following that game, but here’s the passage that got him suspended and fined. (Transcript via the Daily Mail)
‘The result 1-1 is a huge penalty and once more we don’t get and a penalty is a crucial moment in the game with the result at 1-1, and I repeat that if FA wants to punish me they can punish me they don’t punish other managers but they punish me, it’s not a problem for me.
‘But I want to repeat because I think that my players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it. I am a Chelsea fan too and I want to say it again. Referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because when they give there’s always a question mark from you, there’s always a question there’s always a critique.’
As the losses mount and Mourinho’s seat warms, the embattled Blues boss has found new and creative ways to publicly express his frustrations. In recent weeks, we’ve been treated to Mourinho: firing a classless passive-aggressive shot at Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger, calling a reporter’s line of questioning stupid, admitting that this is the worst period of his career, showing some despair regrading his ability to fix the situation, saying he is “not a magician” after one loss and calling some of his own players “rats.”
He also said the club “can sack him if they want.”
Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson believes however, that Mourinho is going to get things turned around. He recently said so in an interview while promoting his new book.
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