After yet another incident between the two managers at the FA Community Shield, Jose Mourinho insists that he has no issues with Arsene Wenger. In a widely circulated video of the postmatch exchange, Jose Mourinho went over to congratulate every Arsenal player with a handshake. He was visibly shunned by Wenger as the Arsenal boss made it a point to walk right behind Mourinho without acknowledging him in a moment that served to heap more shame on the reputation of Wenger.
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Mourinho spoke to Sky Sports about the incident:
"I don’t want to make a story of it. If you walk in the street you are not obliged to say hello or shake your hand with anyone.In a sport team or institution it’s a bit different. I thought about my club and players and the winners and the stadium but I don’t think a manager has to shake hands with another if he doesn’t want to."
Last season Arsene Wenger went in to the Chelsea technical area during a feisty Premier League match between the two clubs and put his hands on Mourinho. He shoved the Chelsea boss but somehow escaped any punishment from the FA despite making physical contact with his opposite number. Many Chelsea fans expected there to be some retroactive punishment for Wenger but no such action was taken by the FA.
One could only imagine what would have happened if it was Mourinho who had done the shoving or had entered Wenger’s technical area. Cries of bringing the game in to disrepute would have been levied at the Portuguese manager but when Wenger did the shoving it was dismissed as harmless. Every newspaper and pundit east of the Atlantic would have vilified Mourinho and we would have never heard the end of it.
Instead it gets swept under the rug and Wenger is allowed to joke about it at a press conference. There are new rules regarding managers entering opposing technical areas and Mourinho is very much in favor of them. He also told Sky Sports that he is in favor of the changes because, “It is difficult to be pushed by the opposition manager in my technical area and he is not punished.”
Mourinho is the type of manager who enjoys taking shots at his opposition but he rarely does so without cause of provocation. Sometimes he can take things over the line but when you have achieved as much as he has you’re allowed to make some off the cuff remarks. As far as the feud with Wenger, it is hard to call it as such when Mourinho has owned the French manager since he arrived in England.
Wenger has only defeated a Mourinho side once in over 10 tries and it came in the glorified friendly that is the Community Shield. Mourinho may feel that he never gets the respect from the media that Wenger does but in the end it is only the results on the field that truly matter.
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