Mourinho ‘not content’ with record fine

Mark Bradley

Mourinho and Chelsea both look set to appeal against the verdict of the Premier League independent commission.

"Since the beginning it seemed to be a serious process, we participated in it calmly, but we are not content," declared Mourinho last night.

"Therefore the legal department of Chelsea will continue to analyse the situation."

Mourinho will himself have to pay any financial penalty, which admittedly equates to just over two weeks' wages, with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck insisting it would not be covered by the club.

Although the Chelsea boss disputed the verdict and punishment, he accepted that the Premier League needed to investigate the secret meeting once it was exposed.

"You can be unhappy at the decision but have to accept that the Premier League wanted to know the reason for the meeting," Mourinho told Portuguese newspaper A Bola.

"It's fair that they wanted to investigate why a player, agent, chief executive and manager were meeting around a table."

Buck nevertheless expressed his surprise that Mourinho had been singled out for punishment by the commission. "In previous tapping-up situations, the manager was not accused of breaching any rules. We think it was inappropriate to first charge Jose and then to fine him too," he argued.

"But we told him we are likely to appeal and he's looking forward to that every bit as much as we are.

"This is a lot of money whoever you are. Every pence and every pound is important to Chelsea but there is also a principle here."

But while Aston Villa's David O'Leary and Liverpool's Gerard Houllier were not singled out in the two previous 'tapping-up' inquiries, the independent commission were highly critical of Mourinho.

In their judgement, the three-man commission concluded that the Chelsea boss had "played a pivotal role in the events leading up to and during the January 27 meeting."

They added: "He agreed to accompany Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon when he could and should have realised the implications of the secret meeting and declined to go.

"The presence of the manager was vital as he was the key component in the discussion. Managers are fully aware of their obligations under the Rules and he acted in blatant disregard of them.

"In imposing the penalty we now do, we aim to send a clear message to other managers that this conduct must not occur."

In the meantime, Mourinho yesterday confirmed that Chelsea are in talks with Athletic Bilbao left-back Asier Del Horno.

Mourinho also revealed three players will definitely be leave the club paving the way for the almost certain departures of midfielder, Scott Parker and strikers Mateja Kezman and Mikael Forssell.

Both Parker and Forssell have been interesting Everton while Kezman is expected to return to Holland with PSV.