Liverpool FC Forum

'For me it's unusual to be sent off by the police and not the referee'

Jon Brodkin at the Millennium stadium
Monday February 28, 2005
The Guardian

An emotional Jose Mourinho claimed the finger-to-lips gesture that prompted his banishment from the touchline on police advice was aimed at the English press and not Liverpool fans.

Mourinho watched the closing period of normal time and the whole of extra-time from Sky television's interview room after being ordered from the dugout for inciting the crowd, and had to be persuaded by Didier Drogba to come back on to receive a winners' medal and celebrate his first Chelsea trophy.

The manager turned towards a portion of the stadium housing Liverpool fans and made the gesture after Chelsea's equaliser, and the assumption was that it had been aimed at supporters who had been barracking him, the message being that they should shush now that his team were back in the match.

But Mourinho insisted he had been making a point to the press. He said he was not aware they were housed on the opposite side of the ground and insisted they "talk too much" and had "tried everything to take confidence from us" after successive defeats at Newcastle and Barcelona.

The point of the gesture, he said, was to tell the press "be calm, put the pen in your pocket". He claimed a lot of the media were "frustrated" that Chelsea had not lost. The strain of a difficult week seems to have got to the former Porto coach.

"I have a lot of respect for the fans of every team in this country and every team in the world," he said. "I respect Liverpool fans and I tried to show this. I have also to adapt to your country and your culture because it's a country where I live and work. For me it's unusual to be sent off by the police and not by the referee or fourth official.

"The policeman told the fourth official, 'Mr Mourinho has to go out.' This is a special situation for me but, if I made a mistake, and did something I cannot do I have to adapt."

Police asked Phil Crossley to take action and the fourth official is understood to have buzzed the referee Steve Bennett to let him know what was going on. Under football law, only the referee can order a manager from the touchline.

Mourinho expressed surprise that the police had intervened. "The police guy is not a football man," he said. "What is police in a football game? They have to control the crowd.

"But this is your country - I have to adapt. In that way, if I made a mistake, I apologise. I'm happy I'm not going to jail for that. I can enjoy dinner with my players and enjoy the trophy."

This will be the seventh investigation or charge Chelsea have faced this season from the Football Association, Premier League or Uefa, including the Ashley Cole affair. The FA will assess the issue today before deciding whether to charge Mourinho. "We would expect a full account of the incident in the referee's report and will study it," a spokesman said. Mourinho already faces an FA hearing for his "cheat" comments after a game against Manchester United.

According to Sky, Mourinho ended up watching the game on a television with no sound shouting at the screen in Portuguese.

This is Mourinho's second controversy in less than a week. He accused Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkaard of spending five minutes in the dressing room of the Swedish official Anders Frisk during the clubs' Champions League game at Camp Nou last Wednesday. Frisk has denied that happened.

Mourinho yesterday accused the press of trying to undermine Chelsea's season but is confident of winning the Premiership. "We have the first title and almost for sure we will have the second one and the second will be the big one," he said.

He said the press could never affect him or his players. "If the Chelsea fans or Chelsea board want Jose Mourinho to go, the next morning I go, no problem," he said. "So the pressure you want to put on me - no problem. I have trophies, I have money, I can live without my job at Chelsea. The day Mr Abramovich says 'you have to go', I go the next day."