Dowie defends 'respectful' Mourinho

Iain Dowie is determined not to become involved in any mind games with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho this weekend.

However the Crystal Palace manager insists Mourinho is far from an “enemy of football”.

“I find him very respectful,” insisted Dowie, whose Palace side are just two points above the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s Stamford Bridge clash.

UEFA have already distanced themselves from comments made by their referees’ chief Volker Roth following Mourinho’s stinging criticism of Swedish official Anders Frisk. Today they claimed a questionable translation into English of Roth’s comments had done German Roth no favours.

Frisk announced he was to quit football after threats of a violent nature were sent to him following his performance in Chelsea’s Champions League match with Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

Mourinho also recently called on his players to “annihilate” opponents as they close in on the Barclays Premiership title, which West Brom manager Bryan Robson took as an insult in the build-up to their match on Tuesday night.

Dowie nonetheless insists Mourinho has brightened up English football, and that his recent controversial statements should not overshadow what he has achieved during his short tenure at Stamford Bridge.

“All the clubs want at the lower level is to be respected. I understand Bryan Robson made some comments about him [Mourinho], but I’ve found him very amiable, very passionate and steeled with desire to make his team win,” said Dowie.

“I’m not in the business of worrying what he says. I’m interested in counter-acting what he does on the field. If he makes bad comments about my team then I don’t worry about that.”

Dowie continued: “He is a manager who is absolutely serious about his art and that means he is meticulous about his preparation and that is the way it should be.

“I certainly don’t think he is the enemy of the game at all. I think he is the opposite of that, I think he has been very good for the game.”

Chelsea are refusing to apologise or back down over the Frisk affair, or to withdraw their allegation that official met Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard in the referee’s room at the Nou Camp.

Both Frisk and Rijkaard deny such a meeting took place, and the fourth official at the game – Martin Ingvarsson – has accused Mourinho of hounding the referee out of football.

Dowie can empathise with the feelings of the Chelsea manager, and reflected: “Jose made a point in the tunnel because he thought he saw something going on there. He made a comment about it. I wasn’t there, but he seems to think it happened. But we shouldn’t lose sight of what he has achieved as a manager.”

Dowie sees fault-finding of referees as part of the game.

“Managers have been criticising referees since time began,” he said.

“For me, I have made the decision that I cannot waste time doing it because I can’t affect it. I cannot change the referee’s opinion. I don’t think anybody has ever changed a referee’s opinion after a game.”

Aside from international duties with Northern Ireland, Dowie has spent his playing and management career within the English game.

He feels the passion for the game in England may have come as something of a culture shock to Chelsea’s new Portuguese boss.

“I think he has found the level of scrutiny somewhat surprising,” reflected the 40-year-old Eagles manager. Every little word he says is picked up on is embellished and he is painted in a different light.

“If you’re telling your team to put the squeeze on your opponents when you’re 3-0 up at half-time, you do that within the dressing room. There are things he has said in the dressing room which have maybe just come outside.”

But Dowie insisted: “I’m not worried about what’s happened in the past with Jose Mourinho – I’m worried about the team he puts out on Saturday.”