Mourinho pleased with Wenger peace
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has welcomed Arsene Wenger’s decision to withdraw his threat of legal action over his ‘voyeur’ comments.
Wenger was considering action after Mourinho labelled the Highbury chief ‘a voyeur’ during a highly public row a fortnight ago.
But Wenger reconsidered his position and announced today the verbal spat is history.
Wenger’s decision was taken after dialogue between the two clubs at the highest level in recent weeks and Mourinho said he thought the Arsenal manager had taken the most sensible course of action in the end.
“I think it is a sensible and intelligent decision,” responded Mourinho. “He knows my feelings about the situation. I don’t want to make it personal. I want to finish with it and I hope he does the same in relation to us. So I think it is the best thing.”
Earlier Wenger had offered the Chelsea coach an olive branch by claiming that, after due consideration, he had opted to forget the matter.
Wenger said: “I won’t be taking any action. I haven’t changed my mind about the basic problem but, having given it more thought, I’ve decided not to take it any further.
“It’s history. I want to focus on what is important for me and Arsenal.”
The row continued to gather pace with Wenger branding Mourinho’s ‘voyeur’ comments ‘out of order and detached from reality’.
That prompted a further riposte from Chelsea’s Portuguese coach, who claimed his club had a dossier containing 120 pages of quotes from Wenger about the Barclays champions.
Relations between the two clubs hit rock bottom over the Ashley Cole ‘tapping-up’ scandal and descended deeper into turmoil during the public row.
The League Managers Association and the Football Association called for a halt to the slanging match and peace has broken out after negotiations between the two clubs at boardroom level.
