Jose Mourinho has been hit with a four-game ban and fined £35,000 after the Fenerbahce boss sparked fury with comments about their rivals.
The Portuguese coach made comments after the derby with Galatasaray where he claimed in a press conference that the opposition bench were “jumping like monkeys”. Galatasaray have announced that they intend to bring criminal proceedings over Mourinho’s comments which they alleged to be racist.
The Special One also claimed that the match was better because it was not officiated by a Turkish referee having been vocal about the quality of the officiating in the Super Lig, previously suggesting he would not have taken the Fenerbahce if he knew about the state of affairs.
Slovenian official Slavko Vincic was bought in especially for the match. His performance was praised by Mourinho after the fiery 0-0 draw, during which the official dished out seven yellow cards. Mourinho said that it would have been a “disaster” if the game had been refereed by a Turkish official.
Those two separate incidents have both resulted in fines and two-match bans, which now means the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss will have to cop a four-match ban.
A statement has been released by the Turkish football federation where they address Mourinho’s interactions with the referee as well as his comments regarding Galatasaray.
Referring to his press conference comments a statement read: “(Mourinho’s) statements made at the press conference after the match and which are the subject of the referral were referred to our Board within the scope of Article 41 of the FDT.
“Considering the nature of the statements, it was determined that the statements used towards the members of the opposing team, were not mandatory, were contrary to the ethics of sports and the concept of fair play, contained expressions that could encourage violence and disorder in sports, were divisive and separatist in society and could cause fan incidents, and it was deemed an act against sportsmanship.”
Fenerbahce had leapt to their manager’s defence after he was accused of racism as they said: “As every sensible person can see and understand; these statements used by Jose Mourinho to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team’s technical staff to the referee decisions during the match can in no way be associated with racism. Trying to portray this statement as racist is a completely malicious approach.”
The club’s vice president, Acun Illicali, told the Daily Mail Fenerbahce were “more than 110 per cent sure his aim was not to be racist”. He added: “The history of his life he has always had very good relations with people all over the world, of different nationalities. It is so clearly understandable. It’s an insult to the intelligence of some people.”
Mourinho’s comments regarding refereeing in Turkey though have not gone down well with the federation, who claim he “insulted the brand value of football activities in Turkey”.
A statement read: “Immediately afterwards, he directed his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee, the 4th referee of the match, towards him and accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees, and his actions and statements that insulted the brand value of football activities in Turkey.”
Mirror Sport
