We’re one game into the new Premier League season and the big talking point concerns a member of one club’s medical staff. Welcome to football in 2015.
Some have tried to claim that Jose Mourinho’s treatment of Chelsea first-team doctor Eva Carneiro is typical old Jose, always trying to deflect the attention from his team whenever they have an off day.
Mourinho accused Carneiro and Head Physio John Fearn of being “impulsive and naive” and of “failing to understand the game” ran onto the pitch to treat a supposedly injured Eden Hazard in the dying moments of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Swansea.
Premier League rules state that if a player receives medical attention on the pitch he must then leave the field when play restarts before being summoned back on to the pitch by the referee.
Despite the rules, the actions of Carneiro and Fearn angered Mourinho as it meant Chelsea, already reduced to 10-men following Thibaut Courtois’s red card, had to play a crucial moment of the game with just eight outfield players on the pitch.
There are many things that appear to be wrong with this situation. Here are two:
1. Carneiro and Fearn were called onto the pitch by referee Michael Oliver which means, under League regulations, they are obliged to enter the field to treat the injured player. Unless of course they pretend not to see Oliver calling them on.
2. Mourinho’s reasoning only works on the basis that there was nothing really wrong with Hazard. Mourinho said after the game: “I was sure that Eden hadn’t a serious problem. He had a knock, he was very, very tired.” Another way of looking at it is that Hazard had a calculated ‘injury’ to help his side, who were down to 10-men, wind down the clock. He would be far from the only player to do that, but it’s hard to have any sympathy for Chelsea when the player even manages to trick his own medical staff into believing he is hurt. The Boy Who Cried Wolf springs to mind.
Carneiro was subsequently demoted from matchday duties, sparking a degree of outrage in the football world. Mourinho is often said to get an easy ride from the the British media, but even they were rounding on the Portuguese coach.
However, there was always the suspicion that Carneiro’s biggest (and perhaps only) error was not to run on the pitch to treat Eden Hazard, but to post a message on Facebook thanking people for their “overwhelming” support.
You didn’t have to read between the lines to see that this was acknowledgement that there was a battle line drawn between her and Mourinho.
This theory was subsequently backed up by a report in the Guardian by David Hytner which claimed that this was the real reason she was relegated from the bench to a physio room at Cobham.
Now a new theory has emerged, courtesy of Duncan Castles, a journalist who can divide opinion but who certainly has close links to Chelsea.
Castles reports that her actions during the game against Swansea were “not the only” reason she has been demoted and that Mourinho has been considering ditching Carneiro for over a year because, basically, the lads in the dressing room don’t want a woman around.
“While there is no question about her professional abilities, the Portuguese coach was concerned that the dressing room dynamic was affected by the presence of a female.
“According to a source, some players had expressed misgivings to the coaching staff about the set-up, arguing that it forced them to alter their usual behaviour in a team environment. Famous for his attention to detail, Mourinho has always sought to eliminate factors that might reduce his team’s likelihood to win matches.”
So if there is any truth in this, and so far it’s only the words of a journalist, then Carneiro’s demotion is not because she ran on the pitch. Nor is it because of her Facebook post.
It’s because she is a woman.
Not a great look for Chelsea.
