Jose Mourinho hits out at people in power after Eric Dier receives four-game ban
The defender was also fined.
Jose Mourinho has accused people in power of being out of touch with the game after Tottenham defender Eric Dier was handed a four-match ban by the Football Association.
The England international also received a GBP 40,000 fine for climbing into the stand to confront an abusive fan after an FA Cup defeat to Norwich in March where Dier’s brother became involved.
An independent panel ruled that Dier’s behaviour was “objectively threatening” and it was not his sole intention to protect his brother.
Mourinho said: “My feeling is that in the majority of the cases, football is not protected by the people that are powerful and doesn’t belong to this world.
“That’s simply my feeling. Powerful people – that doesn’t belong to the tribe. And they don’t have the feelings.
“They don’t have the know-how, and it’s very, very difficult to lead something when you don’t have a clue about the world that you are leading.”
Mourinho also revealed Dier had met the fan.
The spectator involved told police in a statement that he was acting like “an idiot” and did not feel threatened and reiterated those feelings to Dier at their meeting, which Mourinho thought would have been enough for a “fair decision”.
Mourinho, who also says the fan would be welcome back at the stadium once gates are open, said: “The fan had the opportunity to meet the player, had the opportunity to apologise to the player, had the opportunity to understand that we are very well paid but we are not robots.
“We are very well paid but we have families and friends that support us in the stadiums. So I think it was a good opportunity for that fan to turn his profile and become a different fan.
“It was his own decision to do it, because the person in this case, first of all, is a Tottenham fan and was sorry about what happened.
“The way I was told he had the dignity to want to apologise to him. It was a nice thing that, in normal circumstances, especially after saying that he never felt under threat at any moment of the situation, would be enough for a fair decision.”
Mourinho has been defensive of Dier from the off and said he would not agree if the club also decided to punish their player.
It has been revealed that any internal action was postponed until the end of the FA’s disciplinary process, but the Portuguese’s position has not changed.
“An internal action is an internal action that I don’t think we need to share,” he said. “I have no comments about it.
“You know, even without me answering direct to the questions, I think you know my position in relation to what happened. I would prefer to say in relation to what didn’t happen.”
