Mourinho 'The Enemy of Football

Abramovic's dodgy business practices anyone?

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People like Mourinho are the enemy of football

Jose Mourinho has been branded the 'enemy of football' by UEFA's Volker Roth, who believes that the Chelsea boss is partly responsible for retirement of referee Anders Frisk.

Frisk has decided to quit his role as an international referee after he and his family received numerous rest threats in the wake of the Champions League clash between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Frisk was accused by Mourinho of talking to Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard at half-time during Chelsea's Champions League last-16 first-leg with the Spanish side and Roth, chairman of UEFA's Referees' Committee, has criticised Mourinho for creating tension between fans and match officials.

"It's the coaches who whip up the mbuttes and actually make them threaten people with rest," Roth said. " We can't accept that one of our best referees has been forced to quit because of this. People like Mourinho are the enemy of football.

"They have to do something, otherwise more and more referees will be forced out of the game. They have a duty to make some hard decisions against buttociations, clubs, managers and whoever undermines referees," Roth added.

Frisk confirmed his decision to quit yesterday, claiming that the fallout from the Chelsea and Barcelona match pushed him over the edge. "The last few weeks have been the worst of my life," he said.

"The threats have escalated in recent weeks after the match between Barcelona and Chelsea. Their tone has become much stronger. It's a real shame and an impossible task to try to beat something like this.

"There have been threats on the phone and via emails and more usually in the post, and they've also affected my family. It's not worth continuing when it gets to this. My own and my family's safety come above everything," he added.