Jose Mourinho Under Scrutiny As Keith Hackett Calls For Summit With Referees
Keith Hackett started officiating on the sidelines in the 1960s in England and is considered one of the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). A FIFA referee, Hackett has had the honor of refereeing at some of the most important soccer matches in history including the FA Cup Final at Wembley, European Championships as well as countless EPL games of Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, QPR, West Ham United as well as at the Olympics.
Press Association – Jose Mourinho faces a crucial period as Chelsea manager after being hit with another misconduct charge by the Football Association, prompting calls for an urgent summit to address his relationship with match officials.
The 52-year-old Portuguese has until Thursday at 6pm to respond to the charge, which relates to his half-time dismissal by referee Jonathan Moss at West Ham last Saturday.
Mourinho is already appealing against a £50,000 fine and suspended one-match stadium ban for comments made about referee Robert Madley following the October 3 loss to Southampton.
And Keith Hackett, the former general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, believes Mourinho and Chelsea must be invited to a meeting to discuss recent events.
“It’s my firm belief that there needs to be an urgent summit meeting between Jose Mourinho, Bruce Buck, the chairman of Chelsea, Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, and Mike Riley, general manager of PGMOL,” Hackett wrote on his website you-are-the-ref.com.
“The public spats involving the manager of Chelsea need to be dealt with immediately in a face-to-face meeting.”
Mourinho had a similar summit meeting last season, following the dismissal of Nemanja Matic for his reaction to a challenge by Burnley’s Ashley Barnes.
However, it appears to have done little to repair his fractious relationship with match officials.
The Blues play at Stoke on Tuesday night in the Capital One Cup fourth round, after which Mourinho may comment on the latest FA charges.
He has more pressing matters to deal with, notably the need to get results to ensure he remains Chelsea manager.
Four games prior to November’s international break – two trips to Stoke take place either side of matches with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Dynamo Kiev – could determine whether Mourinho has a future with the Blues or not.
Mourinho signed a new four-year contract on the eve of the season-opener with Swansea, but 59 days later, after the home defeat to Southampton, he was subject of the first vote of confidence in a manager in Roman Abramovich’s 12-year ownership.
The club’s October 5 statement expressed support in the Portuguese, but stressed results had to improve and he had the squad to do it.
Chelsea have won one of their three games since, against a free-falling Aston Villa, and are 15th in the Premier League after losing half of their 10 league games.
