Chelsea’s bad rap gives Jose Mourinho food for thought

Jose Mourinho has joked the reason Chelsea are officially the worst behaved team in the Premier League is because the catering at Stamford Bridge is too good and that the FA’s match delegates are distracted by “eating sushi and lobster, and drinking Cristal champagne”.

Figures compiled by the FA’s Fair Play delegated, which were released on Thursday, awarded Chelsea the lowest mark in the division when it comes to respecting officials.

That comes just weeks after the club’s players were heavily criticised for surrounding the referee to get Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent-off in their Champions League game against PSG, with the Swede labelling them “babies”.

Mourinho refutes those figures, and says his only explanation is because the delegates at Stamford Bridge don’t watch the game and are instead only concerned with the buffet.

And ahead of today’s game with Manchester United, he says Chelsea will serve the delegates “bread and water” from next season to ensure their full focus is on the match and his side are given a correct score.

“I think it depends on the food and the drinks,” said Mourinho when asked about his side’s score from the delegates.

“We have to change the catering. We have to change it because many times I think they don’t see the games. Really. I think they stay eating and drinking.

“We have the best catering and the best drink. Next season I think bread and water (for the delegates).”

The delegates tend to be former players and officials, but the only one Mourinho has met is Steve Greaves, who ruled referee Martin Atkinson had not erred when sending-off Nemanja Matic for his reaction to a tackle by Ashley Barnes, while not sanctioning the Burnley man for the original offence.

“The only one I met was the one on the back page of The Sun because that was thephenomenal guy that made the report on the Matic situation.

“That one for sure had sushi, lobster, everything. Champagne of very high quality, Cristal!

“I know it is not true. I know with a lie repeated and repeated and repeated there is a risk it becomes true in the eyes of the people, but I think a lie is a lie.”

Yet one figure Mourinho is more than happy to accept is the fact his team need just 11 points to be crowned champions.

He likened it yesterday to swimming the remaining four lengths of a 25 metre swimming pool to win the race, but he was also irked by the fact his side kick off at almost exactly the same time as Arsenal face Reading in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

His solution is a simple one.

“They (Arsenal and Reading) should kick-off at 8pm,” said the Portuguese.

“Wembley is a fantastic stadium to play an evening match, they play lots of matches there with the national team.

“Let the Premier League follow its normal route, let the matches in the Premier League be played at a normal time.

“You don’t need to change that. Play Champions League time and it will be an amazing evening at Wembley and I could also go.”

Mourinho cut a relaxed figure at Chelsea’s training ground yesterday afternoon, one at ease with his club and a lead in the table that could be 10 points by tonight.

He refused to stoke up today’s meeting with ‘great friend’ Louis Van Gaal, his former boss at Barcelona, and joked he had got reassurances from Jurgen Klopp he was not after his job after leaving Borussia Dortmund.

And at the end, an olive branch to Manuel Pellegrini, the embattled Manchester City manager. The Chilean’s position is under threat after a dire 2015, but Mourinho launched a strong defence of his rival, claiming the media are to blame for placing him in the line of fire.

“He is amazing,” said Mourinho. “If you are still the (reigning) champion and people are pushing you, it is unbelievable as it is a big contradiction. I am not surprised (at their struggles) because it can happen to anyone. I am not surprised because every game is difficult.

“I am surprised that a team which won two titles in three years, a team that is still the champions, a team that won two trophies in the last season, you (the media) can bring this team to hell.

“It looks like they don’t deserve respect, that they are bad players, that the manager is a bad manager, that they are a disaster. And they are the champions!

“On one side you want competitiveness. You want the championship to be open until the end of the season and lots of teams to fight for the title. So how can you be so negative with the team that won two titles in three years? It looks some clubs and managers can not win and life goes on. The guys at Man City it looks like they are stealing people (thieves), they are criminals because they don’t win the league.”