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Jose Mourinho hits out: Why is there one rule for me and one rule for all other managers?
Jose Mourinho fears there is one rule for him and another rule for rival managers after breaking his silence over his latest run-in with the Football Association’s disciplinary department.
The Manchester United manager watched his team’s 4-1 EFL Cup win over West Ham United on Wednesday from his office at Old Trafford after being banned from the touchline for the second time this season.
Mourinho had been sent to the stands by referee Jonathan Moss for kicking a water-bottle on the touchline during the Premier League match at home to West Ham three days earlier, for which he was also fined £16,000.
It was his third charge this season having already served a one-match touchline ban against Swansea City last month for verballing abusing referee Mark Clattenburg at half-time of the 0-0 draw against Burnley over the failure to award his team a penalty. He was also given a £50,000 fine for comments made about referee Anthony Taylor in the lead up to United’s league match against Liverpool in October.
Arsene Wenger was sent off for kicking a water bottle in the technical area after Arsenal had a late goal ruled out for offside in their 2-1 defeat by United at Old Trafford in August 2009, but the Frenchman faced no action from the FA and is even thought to have received a formal apology from the referees’ governing body over the incident.
The rules have been clarified since the Wenger episode, with managers warned in the summer that they would be sent off for kicking water bottles or similar objects.
But Mourinho – who has a long-standing history of clashes with the FA over his behaviour – worries that he is being singled out.
“The only thing I would like would be the same rules for everyone,” said Mourinho. “Let’s go back to the last one. I kick a bottle of water. I cannot do it. If I do it then it’s a sending off. After that there is a punishment.
“I accept that’s a sending off and in fact if you see the images when the referee comes I don’t say a word or complaint. I accept the suspension of one match and it’s as simple as that. But it has to be the same for every manager. It has to be the same.”
United have made their worst start to a season, in points term, for 27 years and face Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday, by which stage they could trail league leaders Chelsea by 14 points should Antonio Conte’s side beat Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow lunchtime.
But Mourinho believes it is a long time since United have played such attractive football and is adamant that the results do not reflect the strides being made in terms of style of play from the risk averse approach of Louis van Gaal.
Asked if United’s poor point return was unsettling, Mourinho said: “But there is always another statistic – for how long Man United didn’t play so well at home? For how long Man United doesn’t play so well in four consecutive matches at home.
“Sometimes you win matches and you don’t know the destination, you just win, you don’t know how the future is going to be. Now in our group now we know the destination.
“When I speak about destinations, I think the destination for us is to be champions, Maybe not this year, maybe we cannot do it. There’s a gap between us and the top of the table but the destination is for us to be champion. I don’t know when, maybe next year, maybe this year, maybe in two years’ time. Maybe when I’m not here. But if we follow this direction the destination is to be champions.
“We could have probably had better results if we didn’t try to go in the opposite direction [to last season] but because we tried to go in a completely different direction in terms of the philosophy and dynamic, that’s the most difficult thing in football.
“I remember when I joined Man Utd, you were speaking about a certain way of Man United playing football. I thought you were right and I went in one direction, not because you said that but because I also realised that was the way to go.”
Mourinho is expected to make a number of changes to his squad next year but he insisted that he would “not push anyone out because nobody deserves that” and left the door open to midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is expected to leave for Major League Soccer next month.