We certainly have a rapidly escalating war of words between two Premier League big six managers on our hands. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho took a swipe at Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte on Thursday. Conte returned fire Friday afternoon, and then Mourinho took it up a notch Friday night by saying the following after United’s third round FA Cup win over Derby County:
“What has never happened to me and will never happen is to be suspended for match fixing.”
It was an overt reference to Conte’s being implicated in a 2011 match fixing scheme while he was managing Siena. The Italian was cleared of any wrong-doing in 2016, before then leading Italy to the European championship. Conte then took the Chelsea job after the Euros.
During his Friday afternoon news conference, Conte was strongly offended by remarks Mourinho made at his press conference the previous day, remarks he interpreted as insulting his touchline behavior.
Conte retaliated by saying that Mourinho is both suffering from amnesia by not remembering his past behavior and fixated on his former club
The Blues boss also issued a warning to any managerial rivals that keep criticizing him- saying that he has no problem fighting for himself and his players.
After United’s 2-0 win over Derby County, Mourinho gave a very long retort. During the beginning part of his response, he appeared to be trying to make peace, by not blaming Conte. The tone changed completely however, when he threw in the match fixing comment.
“I don’t blame him. Honestly. I don’t blame him, I think the press should apologize to me and him,” Mourinho said.
“Because the question that comes to him is completely wrong, and because of that, he had that out of control reaction. But I don’t blame him at all. I was asked about my passion, and you know I was speaking about myself, and then the question to the Chelsea manager was that I told he behaved like a clown.”
“Probably the journalist wanted to say that but didn’t have the courage, so he said ‘Mourinho said you behaved like a clown.’ I don’t blame the Chelsea manager at all, and I understand his reaction. I was speaking about myself saying I don’t need to behave like a clown to show passion.”
“I control my emotions in a better way. Everybody knows, I don’t need the Chelsea manager to say I made mistakes in the past. And I will make in the future hopefully. I celebrated goals running 50 meters, I celebrated goals sliding on my knees, celebrations jumping in the crowd. I’m not free of that, especially if we score a winning goal in a specific moment, I am not free to have an out-of-control reaction.”
“What I was trying to say that I behave bad a few times, and this moment I control myself better. It doesn’t mean my passion is not the same. So wrong question and obviously a strong answer, and I don’t blame. The only way I want to end the story is, yes, I made mistakes in the past on the touchline, and yes, I will make less, but I’ll still make a few.”
“What has never happened to me and will never happen is to be suspended for match fixing. That never happened to me, and it will never happen.”
Conte was accused of not reporting alleged match fixing in two games involving his 2010-11 Siena side. In 2012 he was initially banned for 10 months, but that was later reduced four months, which he did serve.
In 2016, he was completely cleared.
It will be interesting to see where Mourinho versus Conte feud goes and how it ends. Given the fact that Conte has been banned for match fixing during his career, Mourinho, asked to clarify his remarks simply responded with- “Did he? Not me.”
The two managers will next meet on February 25 at Old Trafford.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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