Mourinho should feel ashamed and UEFA must act after Roma thugs airport attack
Let's face it, there was only one man who was “a f****** disgrace” in Budapest on Wednesday night and it was not Anthony Taylor.
It was the man who was shouting that obscenity at the English referee.
The Jose Mourinho anti-establishment act wore thin a long time ago - now it belongs in the dustbin of history. And his latest act of verbal violence is not the first to have serious repercussions.
Remember when Mourinho berated the performance of Anders Frisk in a Champions League tie between Barcelona and his Chelsea team in 2005? He even claimed Frisk had met Barca coach Frank Rijkaard at half-time.
Mourinho received a two-match ban and Frisk - a 42-year-old referee at the top of his game - decided to retire after anonymous death threats left him in fear of his and his family’s safety.
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I clearly remember UEFA’s director of communications, William Gaillard, saying this at the time: “UEFA have never said that Mourinho caused Frisk to resign. This is a big logical jump. All we’re saying is that some statements from managers … are misconstrued by the public at large who are not mentally stable.”
UEFA might never have said it but there was not a person in football who did not consider Mourinho to have played an integral part in the events that caused Frisk to quit.
And there was certainly no way his comments and behaviour towards Taylor could have been ‘misconstrued’.
Instead, they were slavishly mimicked by the hooligans at the airport who tried to assault and frighten Taylor and his family.
Anthony Taylor was attacked by Roma fans in Budapest Airport (Twitter / @MCriscitiello)
He was eventually ushered to safety by security, along with his familySurely even Mourinho felt a sense of shame when he saw those scenes? But don’t bank on it - he is probably the most self-obsessed manager in world football.
When people say he has a massive ego, they are wrong … it is much bigger than that. His training ground offices are shrines to himself.
He will probably just be happy that his antics have distracted from a lamentable Roma performance and from his record in penalty shootouts that now stands at two wins and nine losses.
UEFA should throw the book at him but won’t, of course, which is why it is getting to the stage where referees should be thinking about taking matters into their own hands.
After all, without them, professional football cannot take place.
Jose Mourinho to Anthony Taylor after the game in the Budapest car park (sportitalia)They should demand a code of conduct be drawn up across all leagues and associations that makes it clear Mourinho’s type of behaviour will not be brushed aside and will be met by the most severe of punishments - lengthy bans from ALL involvement in the game.
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Instead, Mourinho will probably rock up at Paris St Germain, serve some paltry, meaningless touchline ban and continue to endanger the safety of referees.
And, quite simply, after the disgrace in Budapest, that can no longer be tolerated.
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