How Jordan Henderson inadvertently helped José Mourinho avoid punishment for swearing

José escaped a ban on Wednesday

It was confirmed on Wednesday that Manchester United boss José Mourinho will not face punishment for using foul language during United's win over Newcastle on October 6th. He was alleged to have used the phrase "f***ing sons of b*tches" in his native Portuguese but after an FA charge, an independent commission could not prove the allegation and he came out of the affair without punishment. It has since emerged that Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson may have inadvertently helped José Mourinho in contesting the charge. As reported by the Times, United may have cited the case of Henderson swearing at Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic during the recent UEFA Nations League match in Rijeka. With no fans in the stadium for the England game, microphones picked up a lot of the conversation on the pitch and Henderson was heard saying "are you the f***ing ref?" at Dalić, but was not punished by the referee or Uefa for his language. Despite Mourinho being cleared this week, the FA could launch an appeal against the decision. The FA brought in lip readers and linguistics experts to build a case against Mourinho, but the commission rejected the charge, meaning Mourinho has escaped punishment. However, an appeal against the finding could still be lodged by the FA.