New reports have claimed that Jose Mourinho flouted UEFA's
touchline ban in 2005 by using an earpiece, handwritten notes and a
loud speaker before escaping detection via a laundry basket.
Mourinho's defiance has long been suspected yet its exact nature
has remained shrouded in mystery for over two years. The Portuguese
manager was barred from having any contact with his players during
the Champions League tie with Bayern Munich as punishment for
questioning the integrity of referee Anders Frisk before and after
the Blues' clash with Barcelona in the previous
round.
However, an inside source has now revealed to The Times and Daily
Mail how Mourinho remained in communication with both the Chelski
bench and his team throughout the tie. According to The Mail,
'Gaining access to the dressing room for the first leg at Stamford
Bridge was simple enough. He arrived shortly after lunch, even
though it would mean waiting more than four hours for his players
to join him. "In the afternoon you haven't got anyone around," said
the source. "He just walked in." It meant Mourinho was in place to
give his pre-match team talk and all-important half-time address
and watch the game on the television that is in the dressing room.
"You can get mobile reception in the dressing-room, the source
said. "It depends what network and in what room."'
Aware that the ploy of communicating directly to Faria throughout
the opening 45 minutes had been detected, the Chelski coach
apparently settled for a simpler method in the second half: writing
notes from the dressing-room which goalkeeping coach Silvinho Louro
would then retrieve and pass on to Steve Clarke, Mourinho's
assistant.
And then it was time to make his incredible escape. 'Mourinho was
not waiting for the players at the end of the match, which Chelsea
won 4-2, because he had already allegedly clambered into one of the
kit skips. He was wheeled out of the dressing-room by members of
the backroom staff and, it is believed, back into the leisure club
in the Chelsea Village hotel at the ground, where it had been
reported that he spent the entire evening.
'In a passable impression of Inspector Clouseau, Uefa's hapless
officials left none the wiser. Insiders claim Mourinho was so
thrilled that he joked openly about his trip in the skip in front
of his players at training the next morning,' reports The Times.
Emboldened by his escape, Mourinho then brazenly responded to media
insinuations Faria had not used his hat just to protect him from
the cold by ordering his fitness coach to attend the second leg's
pre-match press conference in his place. Nor was his nerve
wavering.
Undeterred by the mounting suspicion, Mourinho's ruse for the
second leg in Germany was just as remarkable as his laundry basket
getaway. Having made an ostentatious appearance in the stands at
the Olympic Stadium, Mourinho complained of media harassment and
duly returned to the team hotel to enjoy its convenient privacy.
According to the source, a loud-speaker had been set up in the
Chelski dressing room, enabling Mourinho to talk to his players at
half-time on the telephone.
'"There was a massive speaker," a source said. "José was at the
hotel." Uefa's representatives had surpassed themselves yet again
by approaching Faria to check if there was anything under his hat.
There wasn't.' Despite the revelations, Mourinho is unlikely to
face retribution from the game's governing body. Their fingers
burnt once before, it appears that UEFA are in no mood to confront
the Chelski manager over the allegations.
"It was a crisis episode, as you remember, that everyone is better
off forgetting," William Gaillard, the organisation's director of
communications, said yesterday. "We simply wish all four clubs in
the semi-finals the best of luck."
What a cunning guy... but smart
fellow... Escape in a laundry basket 