Jose Mourinho has been fined £25,000 for the comments he made after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw against Southampton in December, the FA (Football Association) have confirmed on their official website. The Portuguese said after that game that there was a ‘campaign’ to influence the referees against his side by the pundits and commentators. This was after Cesc Fabregas had been wrongly booked for diving in a case where he had been clearly tripped in the box.
The manager has, however, escaped a touchline ban.
The statement by the governing body read:
Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, Jose Mourinho has been fined £25,000 after he was found to have breached FA Rules in relation to media comments.
The Chelsea manager denied that comments he made after the game against Southampton on 28 December 2014 constituted improper conduct in that they alleged and/or implied bias on the part of a referee or referees, and/or brought the game into disrepute.
The Independent Regulatory Commission found the comments were a breach of FA Rule E3 in that they were improper and brought the game into disrepute. The Commission did not, however, find that the comments implied bias on the part of a referee or referees.
Mr Mourinho, who had requested a non-personal hearing, was also warned as to his future conduct.
Several Chelsea players including Diego Costa, Gary Cahill, Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic have been accused of diving this season in attempts to win a penalty. While some of these cases are legitimate, others have been proven wrong by replays, which have shown clear contact. Fabregas’ case was one of the latter, where the player was clearly fouled.
In other news, Diego Costa may face a three-match ban after two incidents in last night’s Capital One Cup semi-final win over Liverpool where appeared to stamp on his opponents. While it cannot be proven whether the stamps on Emre Can and Martin Skrtel were intentional, as they occurred as he was in his running stride, there is a possibility that he will be awarded the punishment equivalent to a straight red card.
As explained here by Sky Sports, the refereeing team from last night including on-field official Michael Oliver, his linesman and the fourth officials will be asked if any of them saw the incidents. If the answer is ‘no’, then the FA have the right to award retrospective punishment. The referees will be shown the incidents again and will take a decision on the same. Oliver’s call will be final.
Mourinho said after the game that he felt the stamps were unintentional, while his counterpart Brendan Rodgers saw it differently. The Liverpool manager said that on both occasions, Costa could have jumped over the player when he saw the trailing foot, but chose not to.
The Spaniard is the Premier League’s top-scorer this season with 17 goals, and will be a big miss in the top-of-the-table clash against Manchester City on Saturday if a ban is imposed. Chelsea already have three key injury concerns, after Cesc Fabregas, Branislav Ivanovic and Filipe Luis all picked up knocks in last night’s victory.
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