News round-upJose Mourinho was so angry at being fined £5,000 yesterday by the English Football Association for his "cheat and cheat" comment about Manchester United that he is considering reducing his co-operation with the FA on some England issues.
He has welcomed Sammy Lee from the England coaching staff to Chelsea's training ground and is uncertain whether to remain so accommodating after being punished for words which he says were misinterpreted. But he will not withhold players from Sven-Goran Eriksson.
The Chelsea manager's fine was a third of what Arsene Wenger had to pay for calling United's Ruud van Nistelrooy a "cheat", but Mourinho feels he should have been cleared.
The commission was told that, as a newcomer to England, he had not realised then that "cheat" had any worse connotations than "dive".
He said "dive" in his press conference after the League Cup tie against United and then used "cheat" on Chelsea TV. "It was whistle and whistle, fault and fault, cheat and cheat," he said.
The Portuguese later explained that cheat was perhaps the wrong word.
"For me, cheat means when a player gets one touch and they dive."
He wonders whether the FA felt obliged to fine him because of Wenger's punishment in December.
The commission was less severe with Mourinho because, unlike Wenger, he had no history of FA punishments. It also bore in mind his explanation and that Wenger's comment had worsened long-standing bad blood between Arsenal and United.
Mourinho has been warned as to his future conduct, having been reminded of his responsibilities by the FA last week for his finger-to-lips gesture at the League Cup final.
Chelsea and Blackburn have been fined for brawling at Ewood Park last month. Chelsea were fined £15,000 and Blackburn, who admitted the misconduct charge, £10,000.
Uefa have confirmed they are investigating post-match incidents at Chelsea's Champions League tie at home to Barcelona.
Arsenal suffered further bad news yesterday when Thierry Henry was ruled out of tomorrow's FA Cup tie at Bolton and Uefa opened disciplinary proceedings against Jens Lehmann for splashing at least one match official with liquid from a drinks bottle after the Champions League elimination by Bayern Munich.
The goalkeeper shook a bottle in the direction of the officials from behind them as they left the pitch and was reported by the referee Massimo de Santis. He could now be fined.
Of more immediate concern is Henry's calf strain, which will sideline the striker for "two to three weeks", according to Wenger. He would miss any replay against Bolton as the team chase their last realistic trophy hope.
Republic of Ireland international Jonathan Douglas has joined Gillingham from Blackburn Rovers.
