Mourinho accepts FA’s £8,000 fine

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho will be in the dugout for Chelsea’s match against Manchester City on Sunday after accepting an £8,000 Football Association fine for “improper conduct” after the 4-1 win over Cardiff last Saturday.

Referee Anthony Taylor had sent Mourinho to the stands following his vocal protests about what he regarded as blatant Cardiff time-wasting and, although he maintains that his complaint was justified, he has accepted the referee’s report of what happened.

“What the referee wrote is true,” said Mourinho.

“I wasn’t aggressive, I wasn’t offensive, I just had a disagreement. What he writes is exactly what happened and exactly why I didn’t understand why I went to the stands. And it’s exactly why the punishment is just a fine. I accept the fine and against Manchester City I can work.”

A fine of £8,000 is the standard amount, and Mourinho is clearly keen to now move on ahead of Sunday’s showdown between the two favourites to win the Premier League.

With City having surpassed Chelsea as the big spenders of English football, Mourinho is expected to use today’s pre-match press conference to highlight the investment that has been made at the Etihad and question Uefa’s determination to impose their Financial Fair Play regulations.

Mourinho has already argued that there should be more expectation this season on City than Chelsea because of their spending on proven and experienced players.

“In my first time you (the media) were always putting pressure on me saying: ‘You buy this, you spend that, you buy the title’,” he said.

“So I hope now it is on the other side.”

Although he has not mentioned City by name, Mourinho has also complained several times this season about clubs who appear to be ignoring the new Uefa regulations.

City spent £90m on four new players last summer despite running at a loss of £97.9m in the most recent financial year.

“Clubs have to think about the future, where FFP will make us think about football in a different way,” said Mourinho.

“We have already started, but other clubs seem not to have done so.

“Other clubs seem to think FFP will never start, or they think they can over-ride what FFP says and determines.”