Football
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Jose Mourinho backs referees but claims decisions go against Chelsea

Jose Mourinho said that while he thinks the standard of refereeing in the Premier League is "good," he reiterated his belief that there is a "campaign" against Chelsea and that he feels that "every decision is going against us."

The Portuguese had picked up an FA misconduct charge for his comments about refereeing following Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Southampton on Dec. 28, and didn't hold a press conference last week because he claimed he wouldn't be able to control what he said.

Mourinho greatly tempered his comments ahead of the match against Swansea City, but stated that the difficult context referees play in makes it tough, and that their honesty was not in question.

"I don't have to repeat what I said already. We are not against the referees," he said. "We understand the job is not an easy one. I'm happy to admit my mistakes. So when I spoke with Kevin Friend [after Sunderland game] and realised it was my mistake and not his mistake, I was more than happy to apologise. There are no problems. The reality is that every decision is going against us and results have been affected by that. [It is] far from us, very far from us, to put any doubt about the honesty of the people.

#INSERT type:image caption:Jose Mourinho tempered his comments about referees, but again claimed that decisions go against Chelsea. END#

"To be fair I think the referees standard is good and if you, before going in that direction, if people did what I did to work in three other countries you would realise the refereeing standard is good. What maybe is not is the reactions and the influence that you can have on their stability to ref this team or that team. That is a completely different story. But I think the standard of refereeing is good."

When asked what can be done to improve it, Mourinho said: "To be fair with everybody and look to everybody with the same eyes and don't put pressure on the referees about their decisions. They must feel free, they must feel like the players. The players to express themselves they must feel free, happy, no pressure, best stability to play football. With them [referees] it has to be exactly the same thing. They have to enjoy the matches and doesn't matter which match and doesn't matter which opponent. It is also important for them."

Mourinho did pointedly evade questions over whether he told Phil Dowd he was "too fat to referee" following the 5-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur

"I go to the referee's dressing room before the game and after the game. When I go before, I go with both captains and the other manager or the assistant. It depends on what they do. What we speak there is between us and stays there.

"After the match we can go 30 minutes after, sometimes we go and the words are the normal ones: 'Well done, good luck for the next one and so on.' Other times we discuss, like men and like normal people, what happened in the game. When I go in that perspective, I have a big advantage, which is that I have seen already on TV which the referees they didn't."

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