Gold angry at Mourinho suggestion

2Slick

Birmingham chairman David Gold has branded Jose Mourinho's call for Premiership reserve teams to play in the Football League "disrespectful."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger backed Mourinho's plea for Chelsea reserves to play in the Football League.

But Gold said: "Jose often talks about requiring respect, but this is disrespectful to Football League clubs.

"It's not the Football League's problem if his players aren't getting enough competition," Gold told BBC Five Live.

Mourinho claimed English football should follow the example of Spain, where big clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona are allowed to field their B teams lower down the professional football ladder.

The B teams cannot be promoted, and they are not allowed to enter Spanish cup competitions.

Mourinho had said: "I would love to see it.

"I can tell for sure that if that happened players like Lassana Diarra, Mikel John Obi, Salomon Kalou, when they are not selected for the first team, they have a competition to play in a different level. So they should have a look."

Wenger echoed Mourinho's call, saying: "It's a very good idea.

"I've said it many times because it happens in France. In France there is two divisions difference and you cannot come up.

"It gives them competition against teams who are fighting for the top level and instead of giving players out on loan, you can get them good competition."

But Gold said: "That may be fine for Jose and I'm sure it would be nice for him if he had three or four teams playing in the League.

"Where would he expect his team to enter the League?

"To allow it to happen, straight away you would have to dump a club into the Conference to make room."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6162461.stm