Premier League: Does Jose Mourinho get harshly treated by referees?

By now Manchester United surely keep a seat free for their manager in the stands. After all, Jose Mourinho doesn’t spend much time in the dugout. He didn’t even make it to half-time during Sunday’s 1-1 draw against West Ham, with referee Jonathan Moss dismissing the Portuguese for kicking a water bottle in anger for a decision against his team.

It was the second time in the space of just over a month that Mourinho has been sent to the stands for his touchline conduct. He had to climb the stairs of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand after being sent off by Mark Clattenburg for verbal misconduct in another dismal home draw against Burnley, with Mourinho also dismissed for his behaviour during a game against West Ham as Chelsea boss just over a year ago.

There is no doubt Mourinho is a man wound tight at the moment. The mischievous smirks that not so long spread across his face frequently have disappeared. His playful relationship with the British media has soured. Even at his prickliest, Mourinho used to enjoy the to-and-fro with the press. He saw it as a game, one he would win more often than not. That is no longer the case, though.

The only thing Mourinho is losing more often than football matches as Man Utd manager is battles with the media and tussles with officials. But is he treated harsher than any other manager in the Premier League? Is he held to a standard that nobody else in the English game is?

That’s what the man himself, and more than a few United fans, would surely argue, particularly after a weekend which saw two of Mourinho’s contemporaries - Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp - praised for their vociferous showings on the touchline. The Chelsea and Liverpool managers are also guilty of fiercely protesting refereeing decisions, but their outbursts are put down as passion. Mourinho, however, is punished for a perceived lack of control.

Of course, there are certain lines of distinction, various shades of grey, that determine whether Mourinho is in fact guilty of misconduct and whether some of his rivals are innocent of it. That judgement will now be left to the the FA, with most expecting the Manchester United manager to be handed touchline ban for two or three matches. Others, however, want Mourinho to be hit hard.

“United fans may well say that referees are treating their manager more harshly than others but for far too long his excesses were either ignored or tolerated,” wrote former referee Graham Poll in the Daily Mail. “Referees have had enough of the clear lack of respect the Portuguese displays, none more so than Moss, who also dismissed him last season. So now referees are doing their jobs it’s time the FA did theirs. A six-game stadium ban might just do the trick."

Of course, the FA can only take into consideration incidents that have taken place in the year leading up to any disciplinary hearing and so Poll’s assertion that Mourinho is now getting what has been coming to him for a long time is nothing but empty rhetoric. The United boss won’t be given a six-match ban on the basis of his past offences because his past offences cannot, by the letter of the law, be factored into the equation.

It’s probably true that referees keep more of an eye on touchline when they are officiating a match involving a Mourinho team. This could be what Poll was attempting to say, but articulated poorly. Perhaps subconsciously referees are now wise to Mourinho and his ways, maybe overly so. It’s almost a reverse boy who cried wolf syndrome.

As an elder statesman of the English game Mourinho should know better. If he does feel that he is being harshly treated he should tailor his conduct accordingly. What he is doing at the moment is sabotaging his own chances of success at a crucial time for his Man Utd team. Referees might well have it in for Mourinho, but he deserves all that he gets for giving them something to target him for.