Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, has revealed he has no plans to watch his side’s clash at Stoke after being handed a one-match ban by the Football Association.
Mourinho was banned following his half-time dismissal at West-Ham last month and will not be allowed into the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as Chelsea bid to arrest their alarming slump in form against Mark Hughes’ team.
The Blues boss “admitted a Football Association charge of misconduct regarding his language and/or behaviour towards the match officials in or around the dressing room area” at Upton Park and was fined £40,000 alongside the stadium ban.
Speaking in his press conference on Friday lunchtime to preview the clash, Mourinho said: “I have no plans (to watch).
“Maybe I sit in the street corner with my iPad. Maybe I don’t even watch the game. Maybe, live scores? Results.
“You can imagine that it’s not easy. You can imagine how I feel. It’s difficult and I would rather not talk about it.”
Mourinho however affirmed that he will travel with the team on Saturday and will only leave the players shortly before the game.
The former Real Madrid coach insisted that despite his ban he will still call the shots in terms of substitutions, adding: “I choose the team, I predict as much as I can the different aspects of the game and I try to prepare them better than ever.”
Mourinho explained that he and his coaching staff have pondered all scenarios for the game – “if we are winning 4-0 at half-time, or losing 4-0 at half-time” – and have plans in place for every eventuality.
Only an appeal against the penalty would have allowed the Chelsea coach inside the Stadium, but he has accepted the sanction.
The Portuguese gaffer hinted that he decided against appealing his one-match stadium ban, saying: “I know the result of the appeal already. I decided to give up.
“It is stupid to fight a fight you know you are going to lose.”
