Football: Mourinho confirms demotion of Chelsea medics

COBHAM, United Kingdom - Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Friday confirmed reports that team doctor Eva Carneiro and head physiotherapist Jon Fearn have been removed from match-day duties, but said it was not permanent.

Mourinho was angered when Carneiro and Fearn ran on to treat Eden Hazard during last weekend's 2-2 draw with Swansea City, which temporarily left Chelsea with nine players due to Thibaut Courtois's earlier dismissal.

Reports emerged on Tuesday that Carneiro and Fearn would no longer attend matches or training sessions, but while Mourinho said they would not be on the bench for Sunday's game at Manchester City, it was not a permanent move.

"Jon Fearn and Dr Carneiro will not be on the bench, but it doesn't mean Sunday is the rest of our season or our careers," Mourinho said at his weekly press conference.

"They won't be on the bench on Sunday. That's clear, it's my decision, my responsibility, but it doesn't mean they won't be in the future." Mourinho did not disclose why Carneiro and Fearn had been sidelined for the trip to the Etihad Stadium, but said that he had a "very, very good relationship" with his medical department.

"You can take your conclusion from what I told you about my relations with everyone who works with me. Or with the majority of the persons who work with me.

"It is an open relation, it is a relation that is open to disagreement, it is a relation that is open to critic. The game is a very emotional space for all of us.

"If a player has a bad reaction with a colleague, if a player has a bad reaction towards any member of the staff...football is football, and the match is a match and everything in the match can be different.

"And especially after the meeting I had with my medical staff yesterday where I got enough feedback to understand the way we are doing things together since two years ago, and the kind of relation we have between all of us allows us to have this kind of relation."

'The bench is my responsibility'

Speaking after the Swansea game, Mourinho had said that Carneiro and Fearn had been "impulsive and naive" by going on to treat Hazard and said their behaviour showed that they did not "understand the game".

His conduct has been criticised by several groups representing medical professionals working in English football, including the Premier League Doctors' Group and the Football Medical Association.

Old adversary Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, waded into the debate earlier on Friday by saying: "The rules are quite clear that when the referee gives an indication that the medical (staff) can come on, they come on.

"After that what happens specifically in the situation I don't know, but the rules are quite clear. It is the referee who makes the decision," added Wenger.

However, Mourinho defended his decision to sideline the duo, claiming that "what they do behind the scenes" is more important than their presence on the bench.

"I have to say that for some people the bench is very important. But for other people it is not important," added the Portuguese.

"For other people the most important thing is not what other people think you do, it is what you do.

"And the bench is my responsibility, yes. And when you ask me, obviously it is my decision, it is nobody else's decision. Every week I face a decision about the bench.

"With 25 players, if my mathematics is not bad, 25 with 11 on the pitch and seven on the bench, seven of them are not even on the bench. I have to choose.

"I have seven assistants, only four can go on the bench, I have to choose three of them. Four kitmen, only one goes on the bench, three they stay out. And medical department, only two go on the bench, and we are more than a dozen.

"Important to be on the bench? For some, but for others it is more important what they do, the contribution they do. What they do behind the scenes and what they do for the good of the team."