Managers' spat won't reach courts - lawyer
A legal expert predicts the feud between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger will be settled by the Football Association rather than end up in the courts.
The managers of Chelsea and Arsenal have been involved in a bout of verbal jousting recently, with the Portuguese accusing Wenger of being “a voyeur” obsessed with his rivals.
Wenger in turn claimed he was considering “action” over Mourinho’s remarks, with the Blues boss revealing last night his club had compiled a 120-page dossier on Wenger’s comments concerning Chelsea.
Mark Stephens, a partner at Finers Stephens Innocent law firm and a specialist in media law and defamation, believes the pair’s disagreement can be resolved by the game’s national governing body.
“This is a running commentary. If we go back to Arsene Wenger’s comments when he was trying to wind up Alex Ferguson that everyone thinks their wife is the prettiest, what Jose Mourinho is saying is that Wenger doesn’t think his wife - namely Arsenal – is the prettiest, he actually thinks Chelsea is the prettiest now,” Stephens told Radio Five Live.
“It’s that sort of element that is creeping in here, but ultimately the courts are not going to be where this ends up, I think the FA will step in to stop it.”
Stephens felt Mourinho’s admission that he was keeping a dossier of his rival’s remarks was taking the row into “ridiculous” territory.
“The whole of this is starting to turn into the sort of ridiculous nonsense that we see before two heavyweight pugilists step into the ring,” he added.
“It does clearly have an impact. Almost 10 seasons ago Kevin Keegan was 10 points clear [at the top of the Premiership] with Newcastle and Alex Ferguson started sledging him, and it really had an impact on Keegan.”
