Jose Cleared, Dowie and a Hairy..........?

The Semi-Final dates are Tuesday/Wednesday 26th & 27th April and Tuesday/Wednesday 3rd & 4th May.

Eight teams - three from Italy: Inter Milan, AC Milan & Juventus, two from England: Chelsea and Liverpool, one from Germany: Bayern Munich, one from France: Lyon and finally PSV from Holland.

You don't always get what you want in this life, but if the Gods are favourable and wish to listen to my request please let Chelsea avoid the Italian teams and Munich - at least at this stage and I will happily take anyone of the other three. Having said that, after Lyon's destruction of Bremen in the last round, perhaps we should forget about them too! LOL!

UEFA has announced today that they have cleared Jose of any involvement in the retirement fiasco of the Swedish referee Anders Frisk, subsequent to the 'harsh' criticism received after the 1st leg of the Champions League match against Barcelona a few weeks ago. Also, UEFA announced yesterday that they have distanced themselves from 'Volkswagen's' comments that Jose is an 'enemy of football' simply because 'Volkswagen' is not aligned or works with or for UEFA.

'Enemy of Football.' I ask you. Enemy, according to the Collins dictionary, means hostile person or nation, opponent. No way is 'Volkswagen' comments in context with the meaning of opponent but correct me if I am wrong but I do not recall seeing Jose stomping round the Nou Camp touchline with a machine gun under his arms. 

It has been refreshing to read today that Iain Dowie, manager of Chelsea's opponents on Saturday, Crystal Palace has actually come out and defended Jose. Unlike one or some who find JM an 'enemy of football' Dowie says that he finds JM respectful. Dowie also went on to say "All the clubs want at the lower level is to be respected. I understand Bryan Robson made some comments about him [Mourinho], but I've found him very amiable, very passionate and steeled with desire to make his team win," said Dowie.

"I'm not in the business of worrying what he says. I'm interested in counter-acting what he does on the field.

"If he makes bad comments about my team, then I don't worry about that."

Dowie continued: "He's a manager who is absolutely serious about his art and that means he is meticulous about his preparation and that is the way it should be.

"I certainly don't think he is the enemy of the game at all. I think he is the opposite of that, I think he has been very good for the game."

Dowie can empathise with the feelings of the Chelsea manager, and reflected: "Jose made a point in the tunnel because he thought he saw something going on there.

"He made a comment about it. I wasn't there, but he seems to think it happened.

"But we shouldn't lose sight of what he has achieved as a manager."

Dowie sees fault-finding of referees as part of the game.

"Managers have been criticising referees since time began," he said.

"For me, I have made the decision that I cannot waste time doing it because I can't affect it.

"I cannot change the referee's opinion. I don't think anybody has ever changed a referee's opinion after a game."

Aside from international duties with Northern Ireland, Dowie has spent his playing and management career within the English game.

He feels the passion for the game in England may have come as something of a culture shock to Chelsea's new Portuguese boss.

"I think he has found the level of scrutiny somewhat surprising," reflected the 40-year-old Eagles manager.

"Every little word he says is picked up on is embellished and he is painted in a different light.

"If you're telling your team to put the squeeze on your opponents when you're 3-0 up at half-time, you do that within the dressing room.

"There are things he has said in the dressing room which have maybe just come outside."

But Dowie insisted: "I'm not worried about what's happened in the past with Jose Mourinho - I'm worried about the team he puts out on Saturday."

Having a certain affinity with Crystal Palace as they used to be my 'other' club when I was growing up and only living about four train stops away from Selhurst Park, I find Dowie comments rather honest and refreshing but then again I think that what Dowie has achieved with Oldham Athletic and Palace in his short managerial career is nothing short of outstanding and if Dowie proves all of the doubters wrong and keeps Palace up this season, then he should become Manager of the Year.

But sorry Iain, my loyalty on Saturday lies 150% with Chelsea and in points context I am with Jose and Super JT in wanting to 'annihilate' the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal at the top of the Premiership table, unlike some members of the football fraternity who mis-read the context and thought that the 'annihilation' was to take place on the field on play. But then again by playing football aren't you supposed to beat your opponent by scoring more goals than them?

Unfortunately its the same old syndrome and the usual bangwagon - Are Chelsea the latest whipping boys and the tool to pick holes and criticise everything Chelsea say and do?

To all those critics, jealous fools and bigots especially those related and employed by a certain national newspaper who's third word in their daily newspaper title begins with M, and the second word out of four in their Sunday edition beginning with M - you can kiss my hairy ****!!!!