"You are a truly great coach but as a
human being your methods are open to question" - Poll on Mourinho
in Seeing RED.
Dear Jose, Are those champagne corks I can hear popping from the
referees' training camp, following the news that you have left
Chelsea? There is, of course, no suggestion of bias or prejudice
against your old club, but when someone makes your life as
difficult as they can, you are happy to see the back of
them.
I first met you when handling a Champions League game in Porto and
always found you charming the fact Porto never lost with me in
charge was surely a coincidence! I was flattered when you
introduced me to your first-team squad before the 2004-05 season as
"the best referee in Europe" and was impressed by the way you
ensured the entire squad showed me respect.
Nothing was too much trouble and you even promised to improve the
referees' room at Stamford Bridge after I told you that it was not
of the standard expected. You fulfilled that promise as well as the
more general one to be "the special one". You were flamboyant,
interesting, exciting and a breath of fresh air in the Premier
League.
I am sure you can understand that after only three seasons I was
starting to doubt my initial judgment. In England it is seen as
important to be a good loser. For you that was never an option.
There always had to be an excuse: often a match official to take
the blame. Do you remember coming up to me after you lost to
Manchester United in November 2005 and saying: "Nice to see you
again, for the first time I have lost a match and I could find
nothing to blame the referee for?"
But after a 2-1 defeat by Liverpool four months later in the FA Cup
semi-finals, again at Old Trafford, your approach towards me began
to change. Before the start of last season, I addressed your
players at the new training ground in Cobham. You were once again
very charming, welcomed my children along and even gave Harry, my
seven-year-old Chelsea fan, your training top after signing it for
him.
Your results with me refereeing took a clear turn for the worse.
None of those results was, in my opinion, my fault and yet you
blamed me again and again and again. I started to look at the
sequence of events and the cynic in me considered that maybe you
felt that by being pleasant to me I might favour you and your
team.
The first season, with four wins from five games, including two
victories over Manchester United, may have made you believe that I
was indeed a "friendly referee". However, following a poor run with
me, you felt it best to make me most unwelcome and try to prevent
me from handling your games.
My more charitable side puts your outbursts down to the enormous
pressure you found yourself under and the obvious internal
interference into the running of "your team" which made you so
uncomfortable. When I decided to walk away from refereeing at the
top level, Sir Alex Ferguson called me and asked me why. I replied:
"Because I do not enjoy it any more." He said that it was probably
best that I called it a day. If Sir Alex had made the same call to
you I expect the conversation would not have been very
different.
You will recall I visited one of your favourite restaurants in
Ferragudo and enjoyed it immensely. I would love to meet up with
you there one day, share a glass of Portuguese wine and finally see
the real Jose Mourinho stand up and let my first impression be the
right one.
Good luck.
Yours Graham
