Chelsea boss Mourinho calls FA fine a “disgrace”

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has described his Football Association fine as a “disgrace” and branded his suspended one-match stadium ban “astonishing” after his comments about referees, British media reported on Thursday.

Mourinho was fined 50,000 pounds ($77,425) and threatened with a future stadium ban on Wednesday for saying referees were afraid to award penalties to the Premier League champions after Chelsea’s 3-1 home defeat by Southampton on Oct. 3.

“I’m happy I don’t have an electronic tag,” the Portuguese was quoted as saying on Thursday. “50,000 pounds is a disgrace. The possibility of getting a stadium ban is astonishing.”

The FA said the stadium ban would be invoked should Mourinho commit a similar offence in the next 12 months.

Mourinho attacked English soccer’s governing body at a launch event for his new book where he also continued his long-running verbal battle with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

The Chelsea boss appeared to criticize the FA’s decision not to punish Wenger for calling referee Mike Dean “weak” and “naïve” following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat by Chelsea last month.

Wenger also escaped without punishment when he pushed Mourinho in the technical area in October 2014.

“Afraid costs 50,000 pounds. Weak and naive - you can do it,” Mourinho added. “We can push people in the technical area. We can, no problem.”

Chelsea, whose poor start to the season has left them languishing in 16th place after eight games, 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, host Aston Villa on Saturday.


($1 = 0.6458 pounds)