October 15 – Chelsea’s outspoken Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, increasingly under pressure after his team’s dismal start to the season by their own high standards, has been slapped with a suspended one-match stadium ban and fined £50,000 by the English Football Association for comments made about match officials.
Mourinho claimed officials were “afraid” to award his team penalties after the referee denied Chelsea a spot-kick in the recent 3-1 home loss to Southampton even though Mourinho conveniently forgot that the visiting team were themselves denied two clear penalties of their own.
The ban will only be enforced if Mourinho repeats the outburst within a year, an interesting test of what reasons he gives for any future defeats.
The setback against Southampton was Chelsea’s fourth loss in the Premier League’s champions’ opening eight games of the season and left them 10 points behind leaders Manchester City and four points above the relegation zone.
Mourinho had said his team were “always punished” by officials because “there is always a question mark” from the media. “If the Football Association wants to punish me they can. They don’t punish other managers,” he added pointedly.
Speaking after the game, he indulged in a seven-minute rant on television about his management ability and how hard-done-by his team have been, insisting he was the best man for the job with his club in the throes of their worst start to a top-flight season for 37 years.
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