Jose Mourinho Requests Personal FA Hearing After Aston Villa vs. Chelsea Charge
Updates from Wednesday, March 26
Jose Mourinho is seeking the chance to explain his actions after being charged by the FA for his conduct at the end of Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Matt Barlow of the Daily Mail reports:
"Jose Mourinho has requested a personal hearing after denying the charge of improper conduct which led to his dismissal from the touchline at Aston Villa.
Mourinho faces only a relatively small fine if the case if he is found guilty by an independent commission but wants to protest his innocence on a point of principle.
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Updates from Friday, March 21
Jose Mourinho revealed during Friday's pre-match press conference he will not accept the FA charge handed down to him following Chelsea's recent loss at Aston Villa.
Chelsea's official Twitter reported on Friday:
The Sun added:
Original Text
Jose Mourinho has officially been charged by the Football Association for his behaviour during Chelsea's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa last Saturday.ย ย ย
The FA announced the news via an official release Wednesday:
"Jose Mourinho has been charged by The FA following his sideโs game against Aston Villa on Saturday 15 March 2014.
It is alleged the Chelsea managerโs behaviour in re-entering the field of play in or around the 90th minute of the fixture and approaching the Match Referee amounted to improper conduct.
Mourinho has until 6pm on 24 March 2014 to respond to the charge.
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Mourinho's bone of contention was the sending-off of Ramires in the 92nd minute. After the Brazilian midfielder was sent to the dressing room, the Chelsea manager remonstrated with the fourth official before leaving the technical area and doing the same with referee Chris Foy.
While the situation on Saturday was rather innocuous, managers have a technical area for a reason, and they're not supposed to leave that. Once they step foot onto the pitch during the match, it's going to cause a problem.
Speaking ahead of the Blues' Champions League clash with Galatasaray, Mourinho refused to let sleeping dogs lie.
Some also took umbrage with the way that they felt Mourinho refused to heap any of the blame on Ramires and instead put Foy in his crosshairs.
Rory Smith of The Times felt that it was a tackle deserving of a sending-off, regardless of how Foy had performed up to that point:
BT Sport's Ian Darke wondered if Mourinho is targeting Foy as the culprit in any other conspiracies:
This charge by the FA will likely do next to nothing when it comes to curbing Mourinho's behavior on the touchline or in press conferences. He has always forged a siege mentality in his team and made himself the target rather than his players, even if his viewpoint is hypocritical or blatantly incorrect.
Those tactics have helped to make him one of the best managers in world football, so where's the motivation in stopping now?
