Mourinho to appeal FA punishment

Jose Mourinho says he will appeal against the £50,000 fine and one-match suspended stadium ban imposed on him by the FA.

Mourinho was sanctioned for comments made following the October 3 loss to Southampton in which he said referee Robert Madeley was “afraid” to give Chelsea a penalty.

Mourinho on Friday confirmed he had received the FA’s written reasons and will appeal.

“The moment we got the written reasons and we decided to appeal is the moment to stop with my opinions and not to add anything more,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho on Thursday night addressed the sanction, which was announced by the FA on Wednesday.

“Every word I say is a big risk for me,” he said on Thursday.

“I am happy that I don’t have an electronic tag. I think it’s not far from (that).

“I also think that £50,000 in the world where we live today is an absolute disgrace.

“And I also think that the possibility of getting a stadium ban is also something absolutely astonishing.”

The stadium ban will be imposed if Mourinho speaks out of turn in the next 12 months, but it is understood the FA is unlikely to pursue Thursday night’s comments.

Mourinho has previously spoken of a wish to manage England – something which seems far-fetched now, given his fractious relationship with the FA.

And in responding to a question on whether that possibility remains, Mourinho could not resist aiming another dig at Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager went unpunished for calling referee Mike Dean “weak” and “naive”, and Mourinho has repeatedly hit out at perceived inconsistencies in the disciplinary process.

“Maybe I am naive – and I know that ‘naive’, I can use that word – but, for me, English football, English football fans, the English passion for the game, what makes me like so much this country and the football in this country – is not the FA,” Mourinho said.

“It’s the people. If, one day, I have to work for that people, I will.”

A more immediate matter is finding solutions for Chelsea’s current run of four wins in eight Premier League games, which leaves them 16th in the table.

Jose: ‘Every game is a must-win game, for different reasons. We cannot run away from the reality of the table in the Premier League.’ #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 16, 2015

Mourinho said: “(On Friday) we had a good conversation again. We laugh a lot because Diego Costa found the reasons for the bad results.

“I cannot tell you (but) he gave us the solution to go back to victories.”

Mourinho lost one of 100 Premier League home games, but has now lost two in his last three after the Southampton defeat.

The Portuguese admits playing at the champions’ Stamford Bridge home is a less daunting than it once was.

“I really believe that every team that comes now to Stamford Bridge, they don’t fear us, they feel that they can get a result,” Mourinho said.

“It’s normal. One thing is to go to a stadium where you know there’s a huge percentage of defeats for the away team.

“Another is to go to a stadium where you know in the last four matches the home team only won once.”

Mourinho is defiant in his belief Chelsea will climb up the table – and Villa’s record at Stamford Bridge is one win in 13 Premier League games.

“We cannot run away from the reality of the table in the Premier League,” Mourinho said.

“Obviously we know that we’re not going to be relegated, we know that in a couple of months we will be in a position where we normally have to be.

“But the reality now, today, tomorrow before the game starts is the reality of the numbers and the numbers are very cruel, but objective and we need points.”

Mourinho also believes Villa have the quality to climb out of their predicament.

“A team that the manager is trying to rebuild having lost probably their two most important players of the team (Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph),” he said.

“I don’t believe Aston Villa will be in this position in a couple of months.”

Striker Costa is available again, after serving a three-match retrospective ban for violent conduct, but right-back Branislav Ivanovic is out after suffering a hamstring injury on Serbia duty.

Mourinho is relishing the forthcoming busy period.

“If we are not very well individually and collectively, I think play and play and play again is the best thing that can happen,” he said.