Jose Mourinho way out of line with criticism, demotion of Chelsea medical team

It all seemed so innocuous. With just 90 seconds left in the Premier League clash between Chelsea and Swansea at Stamford Bridge, Eden Hazard was felled by a heavy challenge from Ashley Williams. The Belgian rolled around on the deck to such an extent that referee Michael Oliver approached and twice waved for the medical staff to enter the field. So, Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro and physiotherapist Jon Fearn did so.

And then everything spiraled completely out of control.

You've probably seen the video footage by now. There's an incensed Jose Mourinho, bouncing uncontrollably around his technical area, gesticulating furiously at what was happening in front of him. Afterwards, he poured petrol on the flames.

Instead of expressing relief at getting a 2-2 draw under the circumstances (Chelsea had goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois sent off after 55 minutes), instead of putting together an honest assessment of his side's performance (it wasn't great) he criticized his medical team instead for an incredibly irrelevant incident that occurred right at the end of the game and had no bearing on the result.

“I wasn’t very happy with my medical staff because you have to understand the game,” he said.

They were impulsive and naive. Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game.”

Mourinho's problem wasn't that his player may have been injured but that by treating Hazard, Chelsea were left with only eight outfield players and Swansea had possession of the ball. He was worried about conceding a late, late winner and losing.

To many, it was seen as diversion tactics. Mourinho knew his team had played poorly and wanted to change the narrative. Coaches do it all the time. Mourinho loves a smokescreen more than most. But you couldn't help and wonder why he was attacking the work of his colleagues. Sure, referees, opposing players and managers are free game but why hint at internal issues, knowing the media would scrutinize every word and suggest all wasn't well at the club?

And then there was the childishness of his comments, the horribly condescending nonsense that medical professionals don't understand the game. There was the smarmy selfishness that suggested Carneiro and Fearn are there only to serve Mourinho and his wishes. In fact, both were doing their job. They have a duty of care for the players and followed protocol to treat Hazard once the referee asked for their assistance. For Carneiro, the team doctor, there may have been severe professional sanctions if she failed to tend to Hazard. Not that Mourinho cared too much about being wrong.

In the immediate aftermath, many expressed their support for Carneiro in particular. As a woman in the dugout of a soccer team, she attracts the wrong kind of attention repeatedly. She's there as a professional, on merit, to do her job. But for some, the gormless, prehistoric, idiotic soccer fans that ruin things for everyone else, see someone who's merely out of place. They see someone good only for objectification and ridicule.

Late last season, video footage emerged of Manchester City and Manchester United fans gleefully serenading Carneiro with a request to “get her (breasts) out for the lads”. One United fan called her a “slag” (British slang term meaning a promiscuous woman) while more video footage showed Arsenal fans chanting disgusting stuff at her.

Maybe it's easy for Carneiro to shake off the insults when it's a bunch of Neanderthals in a rowdy crowd throwing them. But it must be more than a little hurtful when Mourinho, her colleague and peer, questions her professionalism after she did the right thing. Not to mind the rather unsettling way he dismissed her naivety and her lack of understanding for how the game works. Whether he meant it in that way or not, it could be seen as a snide swipe at a woman being out of her depth in a male-dominated environment.

Of course, more followed and the drama rumbled on. Carneiro posted a message to social media, thanking those that had been supportive. Almost immediately, news sites were reporting that both her and Fearn would be demoted, their roles at Chelsea greatly reduced.

And then everything spiraled completely out of control again.

Various medical professionals have stepped forward to back Carneiro and Fearn, ridiculing the behavior of Chelsea and Mourinho. One such organization, the Premier League Doctors Association, has been around for almost two decades and has never issued any statement on anything. Until now.

The machinations went into overdrive. Some suggested Carneiro could sue for constructive dismissal. Then , the lip readers entered the fray. Mourinho allegedly called one or both of his staff “son of a bitch” while reacting to the incident on the sideline.

Mourinho isn't used to this. He still has his flag-wavers, of course, but the vast majority have, quite rightly, condemned his recent actions. And it's not like him to make such a sizable misjudgment.

He was wrong to condemn his medical team for doing the right thing. He was wrong to continue to condemn them in his post-game interview. He was wrong to demote both Carneiro and Fearn.

Without his actions, this entire episode would've remained minor and ignored by the vast majority. It was an inconsequential moment and certain to have been quickly forgotten in the relentless grind of the Premier League news cycle.

But Mourinho, ever the colorful and lippy runt of the litter, may have overstepped the mark this time. He's turned this into a complex and multi-faceted issue. With Carneiro and Fearn not on the Chelsea bench for the foreseeable future and with their reputations sullied, embarrassed and humiliated by the actions of their employer, this may be far from over.

And it could prove a very unwelcome and distasteful distraction for the reigning Premier League champions.