JOSE MOURINHO has been charged for improper conduct by the Football Association (FA) following the incident during Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United on Sunday, when the United manager was sent to the stands in the 27th minute after he kicked a water bottle along the touchline.

    Mourinho is fond of setting landmarks as a manager but becoming the first individual to be sent off twice in this season’s English Premier League is not one he will covet.

    No player in England’s top flight has yet been shown two red cards this term but now an angry man in a big coat has beaten them all to it following Mourinho’s dismissal.

    If all that is not of great concern to Mourinho, then the plight of his expensively-assembled team, now 11 points off the pace and losing touch with the top four, definitely will be as United ponders its worst league start since 1990-91.

    When you have won 22 trophies, eight league titles and the world coach of the year accolade, it is a bit of a comedown to now be dealing in the most red-carded manager category.

    Mourinho’s latest sending off was for a show of petulance when he kicked a water bottle down the touchline in frustration after referee Jon Moss had booked United’s Paul Pogba for diving in the first half.

    Referees in England are clamping down on dissent and this flagrant one prompted Moss to send Mourinho to the stands.

    It was striking how Mourinho’s second sending off in a month — he incurred the wrath of referee Mark Clattenburg in a draw with Burnley at Old Trafford in late October — coincided with another disappointing United showing against a lowly opponent.

    Last month, he was fined 50,000 pounds (US$62,400) by the FA after comments about referee Anthony Taylor before United’s match with arch-rival Liverpool.

    His rant against Burnley came after United had been denied a penalty and he was given a one-match touchline ban and an 8,000-pound fine. Now, the FA may consider another touchline ban.(SD-Agencies)