Antonio Conte reveals FA fine means he will be cancelling wife’s birthday celebrations

ANTONIO CONTE faces further trouble and strife over his FA misconduct rap.

Chelsea’s boss revealed his £8,000 fine for stepping out of line during Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Swansea led to him cancelling his wife’s birthday celebrations.

Conte had accepted the charge and apologised after a heated rant at fourth official Lee Mason, which ended with him sent off by ref Neil Swarbrick.

But it is nothing compared to the aggro he is getting at home.

Conte said: “My wife is angry. It is her birthday in two days and I said for this reason I will not buy a gift.” When asked about the slight swelling and redness on his left eyelid, he joked: “My eye? Ah yes, a punch from my wife.

“She was at the game so it was very difficult. She was there with my daughter. I tried to tell her nothing happened but it was difficult to mask the situation and was the same with her mother.”

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hid his many scrapes with the FA from his missus and got away with it because she is not a football fan.Conte is not so lucky but does have previous good character on his side. Despite his well-known histrionics in the dugout, this is his first offence since coming to work in England last summer.

It counts in his favour and despite being ordered from pitchside to watch the second half in the dressing room, he will be back on the touchline for today’s lunchtime clash with Newcastle.Conte lost his temper on Wednesday, claiming Swansea were time-wasting. But that is nowhere near as big an issue for him as the fixture congestion this season. The Italian has hit out at the Blues’ apparent lack of time between big games and the West London club have taken their manager’s frustrations to the Premier League. Champions Chelsea are at home to Newcastle 2½ days after playing Swansea. Newcastle have had an extra day’s rest.

Chelsea were also forced to play Manchester City two days after playing Atletico Madrid in Spain and Liverpool 72 hours after a 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan to play FC Qarabag. The home game against Watford was also brought forward from Monday night to the preceding Saturday.TV companies pay around £11million per game to televise Premier League matches. But fuming Conte said: “This is the fourth time. I’m not stupid, if someone wants to joke with me I’m not the right person to joke. I want respect for my job, for my club, for the players, for the fans.

“It happened again. Newcastle played on Tuesday night, we played on Wednesday night and now we have to play again on Saturday at 12.30pm — it has happened again.

“Against Watford we should have played on Monday and then they changed it to Saturday at 12.30 after we played Wednesday.

“OK once it can happen. Twice it can happen. Against Man City. The third time, you start to be perplexed. “And now against Newcastle. I don’t want advantages for my team. I want the same rest as our opponents. I think now there is a strange coincidence.

“I want to protect my club, I want to try to protect my players, I want to try to protect my fans, also I want to try to protect the Premier League.

“Now we have 11 points less than Manchester City. Yes, but if you remember when we played Manchester City they rested one day more than us.

“We played against Liverpool, Liverpool rested one day more than us. Now again, in only 14 games, it’s happened four times.

“It is very difficult to think this is a coincidence, honestly.”

From The Sun