Mourinho sacked: Chelsea’s fall from grace in quotes

Rob Conlon
Jose Mourinho: Manager famous for his comments

Throughout his two spells as Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho has never been shy of speaking his mind. After being sacked by the club on Thursday, his fall from grace is charted by some of his most memorable outbursts.

On Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn going on to the pitch against Swansea on August 8 (via Sky Sports):

”I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naive. Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game. You have to know you have one player less and to assist a player you must be sure he has a serious problem. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. He had a knock. He was tired.”

On referees after a 3-1 defeat at home to Southampton on October 3 (Sky Sports):

”The referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. At 1-1 we have a penalty – it is a giant penalty, and he is afraid to give (it) like everybody else is afraid to give (them). If the FA want to punish me, they don’t punish other managers but okay, they can punish me. I want to make it clear again, referees are afraid to give decisions. When you are top, you want to see people down. When we are down, give us a break.”

On his future during the same seven-minute exchange post-Southampton (Sky Sports):

”If the club want to sack me, they have to sack me because I’m not running away from my responsibility and my team. This is a crucial moment in the history of this club because if the club sacks me, they sack the best manager this club had and the message is bad results and the manager is guilty.”

On Football Association misconduct charge in wake of post-Southampton comments:

”Every word I say is a big risk for me. 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.”

On frustrations after Arsene Wenger was not punished for calling a referee “weak and naive”:

“The word ‘afraid’ is a punishment, and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was ‘weak and naive’, referring to one of the top referees, not just in this country, also in Europe, to call him ‘weak and naive’ we can do. The only good thing of this last decision by the FA is that every manager in this country can write in a little book and, when he goes to the press conference, he knows that ‘afraid’ costs £50,000. ‘Weak and naive’, you can do it. It’s more important for the football in this country – a word, than (an) aggression. The only two good things that I take from this (the FA decision) is that. It’s good for everyone.”

On the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on October 31 (BT Sport):

“I have nothing to say.” (11 times)

On his squad after the 2-1 defeat to Leicester on December 14 (Sky Sports):

”I think they deserved to win because they were better than us during a long period of time. We conceded two goals that were unacceptable. One of my best qualities is to read the game for my players and I feel like my work was betrayed. All last season I did phenomenal work and brought them to a level that is not their level and more than they really are… or this season we are doing so bad.”

On whether that defeat ruled them out of the race for the top four (Sky Sports):

”Yes, clearly.”

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