Mourinho rages after Hull draw: ‘The rules for me are different’

LONDON, Feb 2: Furious Jose Mourinho claimed there was one rule for him and another for rival managers such as Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp on Wednesday night moments after the Manchester United manager stormed out of a television interview.

Mourinho told a BBC reporter “if you don’t know football, you shouldn’t be with a microphone in your hand” as the Portuguese struggled to conceal his anger at referee Mike Jones after United’s goalless draw at home to Hull City dealt a severe blow to their top four hopes.

The United manager claimed he could not convey his feelings about Jones because “the rules for me are different” and questioned how Wenger and Klopp could get away lightly with behaviour he believes he would be severely punished for. Wenger received a four-match touchline ban for shoving fourth official Anthony Taylor in Arsenal’s game at home to Burnley last month and at Anfield on Tuesday evening, Klopp claimed Neil Swarbrick told him “I like your passion” after the Liverpool manager harangued the fourth official during the game.

“Don’t ask me questions that I cannot answer,” Mourinho said. “You know clearly that I am different. I am different. The rules for me are different. I am different in everything.

“I watch my team play in a hotel, I was forbidden to go to the stadium, my assistant had a six-match stadium ban and he didn’t touch anyone.

“Yesterday one fourth official told a manager: “I enjoy very much your passion”’. So do what you want to do. Today I was told, ‘Sit down or I have to send you to the stands’ so everything is different for me. So don’t ask me questions that put me in a difficult situation.”

Mourinho, who has been sent to the stands twice this season, was given a one-match stadium ban in 2015 while Chelsea manager for verbally abusing referee Jon Moss during a game against West Ham United. Mourinho’s assistant, Rui Faria, was also given a six-match stadium ban for abusive language towards officials during Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat against Sunderland in April 2014.

Mourinho claimed decisions are frequently going against United this season and appeared aggrieved at Jones’s failure to clamp down on Hull’s perceived time-wasting as well as the referee’s failure to send off Oumar Niasse, who had already been booked for a foul on Marcos Rojo, for poor challenges on Michael Carrick and Daley Blind, and the denial of a dubious penalty claim for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Asked about the Niasse incidents, Mourinho said: “I don’t understand why you ask me these kind of questions. If I was in your place I wouldn’t ask the manager. I would just see and write what is my opinion. If I was on your side I wouldn’t be asking the United manager. Just write what is happening during almost every game with us. If I speak I am punished. I don’t want to be punished.

“If you go game after game with Manchester United and you see what happened here, with Manchester City, what happened here with Burnley, what happened here with West Ham, what happened at Stoke, what happened almost everywhere, you do your job and you do a public service. Tell the truth. It’s as simple as that.”

In an earlier BBC interview that lasted just 88 seconds, Mourinho walked out after being asked what in particularly he felt Jones should have pulled Hull’s players up on. “if you don’t know, you shouldn’t be with a microphone in your hand,” he said.