Jose Mourinho is facing more Football Association (FA) sanctions over his use of the word ”cheat” in a post-match television interview following Chelsea’s victory over Wigan at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Meanwhile, his Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson is also facing a less serious FA rap over comments he made about Rob Styles after the referee did not award his team a penalty during their draw against Everton.
The FA has asked Mourinho to explain his claim that Wigan’s Lee McCulloch was ”cheating” during Saturday’s match.
The FA fined Mourinho £5 000 last season for alleging that United players were guilty of ”fault and fault and cheat and cheat” during their Carling Cup semifinal clash.
Now he has risked another misconduct charge after expressing his frustration following an incident during last Saturday’s 1-0 win.
Striker David Connolly allowed the ball to run out of play in the second half because McCulloch was on the floor clutching his ankle.
But Mourinho told defender William Gallas not to give possession back to Wigan because he felt McCulloch was feigning injury after a clash with Joe Cole.
He later claimed: ”We know what fair play is and when a player is injured, we give the ball back. When a player is cheating, we are not stupid.
”Because the player was cheating and seconds later stood up and was running again, I told William Gallas not to give them the ball back.
”It is my responsibility and I will do it again. Fair play is not to cheat. It is one thing to be injured and another to pretend to be injured.”
The FA has therefore written to Mourinho to clarify his comments.
Given the FA’s sensitivity over the use of the word ”cheat”, another misconduct charge could ensue if his explanation is not sufficient.
The FA is also looking into Ferguson’s response to referee Styles’s decision not to award a penalty when Louis Saha tangled with Everton’s David Weir at Old Trafford.
After the 1-1 draw, Ferguson observed: ”We maybe could have had a penalty, but there’s no way Rob Styles was ever going to give us a penalty.”
The FA is considering whether the comments placed a question mark over Styles’s integrity, although a clarification to the contrary from the United boss could be sufficient for the matter to be allowed to drop.
The FA launched a ”Respect the Ref” campaign at the start of the season with the aim of curbing managers’ tendency to shoot from the lip in their post-match interviews.
Ferguson and Mourinho were not the only bosses to have problems with officials at the weekend.
Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger was reportedly so furious at Dermot Gallagher’s handling of his side’s defeat at Newcastle that he spent several minutes haranguing him in the tunnel after the final whistle.
As the ear-bashing over the official’s leniency in relation to some shocking challenges from Alan Shearer was in private, Wenger is unlikely to face any recriminations. — Sapa-AFP