Chelsea's Mourinho to appeal FA sanction
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has announced that he will appeal a £50,000 FA fine and one-match suspended stadium ban for comments made after his side’s defeat to Southampton.
Mourinho was handed a one-match suspended stadium ban and fined on Wednesday evening after accepting a misconduct charge from the FA for comments he made about the officials in the wake of the 3-1 loss to Southampton on Oct. 3.
The Stamford Bridge boss confirmed at his news conference on Friday afternoon that he would be appealing the FA’s punishment.
Jose says he has seen the FA’s written reasons for his charge and he will make an appeal. #CFC
– Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 16, 2015
Under the terms of the suspended ban, the Portuguese coach will be banned from the stadium if he speaks out of turn again in the next 12 months.
Speaking on Thursday at Waterstones Piccadilly to promote his book “Mourinho,” the coach said: “Every word I say is a big risk for me. I am happy that I don’t have an electronic tag. I think it’s not far from [that].
“I also think that £50,000 in the world where we live today is an absolute disgrace. And I also think that the possibility of getting a stadium ban is also something absolutely astonishing.”
Asked at his Friday news conference whether he might have caused himself further problems with those remarks, he said: “I have to be honest with myself, that’s the most important thing.”
Questioned as to whether he felt it would be possible for him to repair his relationship with the FA, he replied: “I think, in the moment, we have got the written reasons and I decided to appeal. So it’s the moment to stop with my opinions and not say anything more than I did already. I was very objective in my sadness facing the situation.”
Mourinho felt aggrieved Arsene Wenger went unpunished for calling referee Mike Dean “weak” and “naive” following Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea last month.
Yet the Portuguese was sanctioned for his criticism of Robert Madeley, the official in the loss to Saints.
Wenger also escaped punishment for pushing Mourinho in the Stamford Bridge technical area in October 2014, something which still grates with the Chelsea boss.
Mourinho, who called for the media to “go deep” in examining his fractious relationship with the FA, added: “There is something that, now, we know. One, we can push people in the technical area. We can, no problem.
“The word ‘afraid’ is a punishment, and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was ‘weak and naive’, referring to one of the top referees, not just in this country, also in Europe, to call him ‘weak and naive’ we can do.
“The only good thing of this last decision by the FA is that every manager in this country can write in a little book and, when he goes to the press conference, he knows that ‘afraid’ costs £50,000. ‘Weak and naive’, you can do it.
“It’s more important for the football in this country — a word, than [an] aggression. The only two good things that I take from this (the FA decision) is that. It’s good for everyone.
“And it’s the fact I still can walk in London without an electronic tag.”
Chelsea won the title last term, in the second season of Mourinho’s second spell, but have lost four of eight Premier League games this campaign, leaving the Portuguese under pressure.
Chelsea issued a statement of support — the first in the 12-year Roman Abramovich era of ownership — following the Southampton loss and numerous players have backed their embattled manager during the international break, which ends when the Blues play Aston Villa on Saturday.
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