Touchline ban won't affect Euro chances

Cool, calculating and courteous, the undemonstrative Swede is one of the gentlemen of the modern game.

He's far too diplomatic, for instance, to say exactly what he thinks of Mourinho's antics. The two coaches, among the highest paid in the world, reside at opposite ends of the personality spectrum although, of course, the quietly spoken Swede was Chelsea's first choice as manager, ahead of the bullish Mourinho.

Eriksson is happiest observing from the fringes while Mourinho prefers to be in the thick of it. Eriksson applauds demurely while the Portuguese coach greets victory by galloping along the pitch flapping his arms in triumph.

The Chelsea manager has a hands-on approach that endears him to the fans but pitches him into squabbles with officialdom. Let's

consider, for a moment, his unscripted intervention in the dying moments of Porto's 4-1 win over Lazio in the UEFA Cup semi final first leg in April 2003.

Mourinho demonstrated his ruthless streak that night by grabbing the shirt of Lazio's Lucas Castroman and pulling him over as he was about to take a throw-in.

"I could see the danger because our defence was at a disadvantage so I pulled Castroman over," Mourinho recalled in his authorised biography. "He reacted. The referee saw it and did what he had to do. He sent me off and gave Castroman a yellow card. It was ugly. It wasn't an instinctive thing for me. I recognised the justice of the sending off."

UEFA fined him £1,100 and banished him to the stands for the second leg in Rome. Forbidden from communicating with his players during the game and scrutinised by UEFA officials, Mourinho nonetheless devised an ingenious way of getting round the ban.

Flanked by two assistants, he spoke to them throughout the match. Both had laptops and they casually typed Mourinho's instructions and transmitted them to two other assistants at pitchside. There is, in fact, a school of thought among some coaches that they get a far better appreciation of the match by watching from a seat high in the stand rather than in the manager's dug out at pitch level.

If UEFA choose the ban as a sanction against Mourinho it is likely that he would have to watch the Champions League quarter final matches against Bayern Munich from the stand. The truth, of course, is that in Munich's Olympic Stadium the bench is so far from the pitch that Mourinho would have no chance of getting messages to his players anyway.

Bol t on's Sam Allardyce is one Premiership manager who always watches the first half from the stand before addressing his players at the interval.

Although Arsenal's Arsene Wenger watches from pitch level, the first person he talks to at half time in his assistant Bora Primovic, who always watches the first half from the stand. His assessment forms part of Wenger's half-time talk. Ultimately-though, it's the players who win and lose matches. Nine times out of 10 the influence of the coach is minimal, though there are critical occasions when a good coach can make a difference.

During these high- octane moments the decisions of a coach can win or lose a match. Remember what happened to Sir Alf Ramsey when he was defending the World Cup in Mexico in 1970?

Leading 2 - 0 against West Germany in the quarter final he decided to take off Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters.

Believing a semifinal place to be almost assured, he wanted to spare his two midfield players any further exertion. England lost 3-2 in extra time.

If Chelsea's players are good enough and prepare properly they will beat Bayern - with or without Mourinho on match day.

If he's worried he should record two taped messages to be played to them at half time - one if they're winning and the other if they're losing!