Jose Mourinho has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association following his comments in the aftermath of Chelsea’s game against Southampton on Saturday.
Mourinho felt his team was treated unfairly by the referee in the game and said, “…clearly the referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea” during a seven minute rant in his post match interview.
He went on to say, “if the FA wants to punish me, they can punish me. They don’t punish other managers, they punish me, but it’s not a problem for me. I want to repeat because I think 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 giving decisions to Chelsea. Why? Because when they give, there is always a question mark from you [the media]. There is always a question, there is always a critic, so we are always punished. We are punished because Diego Costa is suspended with images. In other matches we see the same thing and that doesn’t happen. Clear penalties are not given and with us it’s one and one and one and one…”.
The FA have decided that Mourinho’s comments “imply bias on the part of a match official” and have therefore chosen to charge him. The loss to Southampton at Stamford Bridge leaves Chelsea closer to the relegation zone than to the top of the table, given that they are four points above the former and ten points away from Manchester City at the top of the league.
Mourinho’s outburst included reference to people inside the club who must ‘accept their responsibility’. He said, “I think this is a moment for everybody to assume responsibilities. I assume my responsibilities, I think the players should assume their responsibilities, there are other people in the club who should also assume their responsibilities, and to stick together. This is what I want”.
His comment led the club to issue a statement offering him their support but made it clear that they consider they have lived up to their responsibilities. The club statement said, “As Jose has said himself, results have not been good enough and the team’s performances must improve. However, we believe that we have the right manager to turn this season around and that he has the squad with which to do it”.
Mourinho has until 18:00 hours on the 8th of October to respond to the FA’s charge.