Mourinho tarnishing Premier League image – Hackett

REUTERS – Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s constant spats with referees are tarnishing the image of the Premier League, according to the former general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) Keith Hackett.

The Football Association (FA) has charged Mourinho with misconduct for comments made to Jon Moss that resulted in the Portuguese being sent to the stands during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham United.

Chelsea’s under-fire boss is also appealing against a 50,000 pounds ($76,655) fine and a suspended one-match stadium ban after he said referees were “afraid” to award his team penalties following the home defeat by Southampton earlier this month.

“Sadly the image of the Premier League is being tarnished by the actions of the manager of Chelsea,” Hackett wrote in a blog on you-are-the-ref.com.

“He appears to be one very unhappy person who, frankly, is using referees as a scapegoat for the poor performances of his team. Moss was appointed to what appears to be a poisoned chalice when it comes to Chelsea, not the easiest team to control.

“For a number of years with Jose Mourinho in charge, Chelsea have been a difficult team to referee.”

The Premier League champions, who are sixth from bottom this season, also had midfielder Nemanja Matic and assistant manager Silvino Louro sent off on Saturday.

The PGMOL is responsible for the development and mentoring of the best referees in England and Hackett urged senior officials to take Mourinho to task over his public criticisms.

“It’s my firm belief 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,” he said.

“The public spats involving the manager of Chelsea need to be dealt with immediately in a face-to-face meeting.”

($1 = 0.6523 pounds)

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tony Jimenez)