Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has played down newspaper allegations he called referee Phill Dowd “fat” following his side’s 5-3 Premier League loss to Tottenham on New Year’s Day.
The Portuguese was reported to have held the official responsible for his side’s defeat, and has subsequently been charged with misconduct by the Football Association (FA) over a separate incident last month when he claimed there was a “campaign” against Chelsea.
Mourinho dodged media duties around last weekend’s clash with Newcastle United to avoid landing himself in more hot water, but has challenged the FA charge handed down to him.
However, the Stamford Bridge boss was back in the hot seat for Friday’s news conference, and chose his words carefully when pressed on the Dowd incident.
“I go to the referee’s dressing room before the game and after the game,” Mourinho explained. “When I go before game, I go with both captains and the opposition manager.
“What we speak there is between us and stays there.
“After the match, sometimes we go and the words are the usual ones – ‘well done’ or ‘good luck for the next one’.
“Other times, we discuss like men, like normal people, about what happened in the game.
“When I go in that perspective I have a big advantage in that I’ve watched the match on television. After Southampton I told Anthony Taylor I’d seen the replays and he made a big mistake and he believed me.
“With Phil, it was exactly the same thing. I told him he made a mistake and he was not happy with the mistake.”
Mourinho also stressed he has no agenda against referees.
“We understand the job is not an easy one,” he added. “I’m happy to admit my mistakes, so when I spoke with Kevin Friend [after an FA Cup tie with Watford] and I realised that it was my mistake [to claim a penalty] and not his mistake, I was more than happy to apologise, so there are no problems.
“[But] the reality is that every decision is going against us, so the results are being affected by that.”
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