He has form
The chairman of UEFA’s referee’s committee has described Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as “the enemy of football”, following the retirement of referee Anders Frisk.
Swede Frisk announced his retirement from refereeing having received death threats after Barcelona’s 2-1 first-leg win over Chelsea in the Champions League last month.
“It’s the coaches who whip up the masses and actually make them threaten people to death,” Volker Roth told the daily Aftonbladet.
“We can’t accept that one of our absolutely best referees is forced to quit because of this.”
“People like Mourinho are the enemy of football.”
Mourinho accused his Barcelona counterpart Frank Rijkaard of trying to influence Frisk during halftime of the match at the Nou Camp.
Mourinho’s conduct is now being investigated by UEFA.
“It’s obviously not okay for a coach to put this much pressure on a referee as Mourinho did in this case,” said Swiss referee Urs Meier, who himself was persecuted by irate England fans after disallowing England’s 90th minute goal in the Euro 2004 quarter-final against Portugal.
“He (Mourinho) has to be punished. UEFA and FIFA have to protect referees from attacks like this.”
Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen told the paper: “When you’re in Mourinho’s seat you’ve got to take more responsibility and not make statements that will shed water on the mill for the hooligans.”
by World Soccer
