'Petulant' Jose Mourinho under fire after Chelsea ban Eva Carneiro

The message, in the case of Eva Carneiro, seems to be that if you cross Jose Mourinho at Chelsea then, as ever, there can be just one outcome: you are marginalised and, in the long term, out the door. Length of service or reputation does not matter one bit. The club are well aware that the fallout from the Carneiro case will not portray them in a good light. With all her major duties removed – on-field care during matches, even a presence on the training field at Cobham – it means that Carneiro, the club’s first-team doctor, is expected to leave sooner rather than later... In the context of life at Chelsea that [Facebook post] looked provocative, given how much the club discourages backroom staff from make any public pronouncements. It appeared that these nondescript few words of gratitude had sealed Carneiro’s fate and her time at Chelsea was as good as up... The reasons for her demotion lie squarely at the feet of Mourinho, who will have his rationale for a decision that he knows will make life very difficult for his club over the next few days. Whether any of it makes sense, beyond a truculent assertion of his power at the club, remains to be seen.

It surely cannot be just because Jose Mourinho was unhappy with her running on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard that Dr Eva Carneiro is poised to have her role at Chelsea vastly reduced. If it is then Mourinho has made a mistake. He may not value the quality of the work carried out by his head doctor – which he has every right to question – and this may have been the final straw but by making his complaints so public the Chelsea manager has erred. He cannot be blamed for the higher-than-usual profile that Carneiro has – given her gender – which, although it should be irrelevant, has also led to awful sexist abuse in the past from fans. But Mourinho was wrong to speak publicly. He can challenge the work of any employee – he is a senior member of staff at Chelsea after all – and strong discussions and disagreements happen between managers and medical departments at football clubs all the time. But Mourinho accused Carneiro and first-team physiotherapist Jon Fearn of failing to understand the game when they ran on to treat Eden Hazard with Chelsea down to 10 men and holding out for a draw at home to Swansea City.

We love Jose Mourinho being Chelsea boss. He is the greatest manager in our club's history. However, fans are growing weary of his petulance. It seems that not a day goes by without Mourinho being in the headlines for the wrong reasons. We have just got over the embarrassment of him skilfully pirouetting his way out of a handshake with Arsene Wenger, now we are dealing with a fresh and more grubby issue. His decision to attack our club doctor was a foolish one. To label her 'naive' is naivety on his part. Why couldn't this whole saga be kept behind closed doors? What logical basis can there possibly be for hanging Eva Carneiro out to dry? She is popular at Chelsea both with the fans and the players so to have this destabilising and distracting topic on our lips when we face a huge game at Manchester City on the weekend is a farce.