Jose Mourinho will serve the one-match stadium ban at Stoke today because of a foul-mouthed rant at match referee Jonathan Moss. And the most ironical part of this controversial incident is Mourinho finally agrees what Arsene Wenger has to say. Yes a bit twist lies here. Despite recent verbal fights against the Arsenal Manager, the Portuguese somehow acknowledges what Wenger thinks. Atleast in respect of Premier League refereeing.
The FA finally released the exact reasons for the suspension in written; Mourinho eventually chose not to contest the punishment. The statement says Mourinho repeatedly refused to leave the officials’ dressing room area at West Ham’s Upton Park throwing a mouth full of abuse at referee Moss.
Jonathon Moss’s testimony of the October 24th half-time incident from Chelsea’s match reveals the Portuguese manager was extremely furious after Nemanja Matic was sent-off for two bookable offences and the Chelsea were denied two important goals, one for goal-line technology and the other for offside.
“When myself and my colleagues left the field of play at half time, as we entered the tunnel area to get to our dressing room, Mr Mourinho the Chelsea manager was waiting for us clearly agitated and began aggressively asking about first half decisions,” Moss claimed in the written statement released by FA.
“Rather than publically (sic) speak to him I asked him to step into the entrance of my dressing room escorted by Simon Sutton, the West Ham United security manager.
“Mr Mourinho asked me about a tackle, an offside and a goal line clearance. I gave him brief answers to his questions. After this I asked him to leave the dressing room area.
“He refused. I asked him again. After he refused again I asked Mr Sutton to escort him from the room. At this point Mr Mourinho became very aggressive and animated.
“He shouted that you ******* referees are weak… Wenger is right about you… you are ******* weak.
“I advised Mr Mourinho not to take his position in the technical area for the second half due to his actions.”
The assistant referees’ and fourth official’s statement also support Moss’ comments, the written reasons clarified.
On October 26th Mourinho was informed of the punishment and the Portuguese three days later admitted it also before the much awaited sanction was slapped on him last Monday.
Mourinho surprisingly didn’t appeal against the sanction when announced his decision yesterday.
“It is clear from both the letter from Mr Mourinho and his submissions that he regrets the incident and to his credit he made an early admission,” the written statement from FA further said.
“His behaviour was in the opinion of the commission unacceptable and he showed a total lack of respect for the match officials and the sanctuary of their changing room. That is a most serious matter and has to be dealt with accordingly.”
The three-man disciplinary commission decided a financial punishment “has little or no impact upon his behaviour” after they assessed his previous disciplinary incidents. Although he was slapped with a fine of £40 000.
The commission further decided a touchline ban is not sufficient enough as the Blues manager would still have the option to enter the tunnel area.
Yesterday Mourinho publicly accepted the suspension given by FA, as he didn’t appeal against the one-match stadium ban and £50 000 fine.