The Portuguese coach put his finger to his lips when a Steven Gerrard own-goal levelled the match and took it into extra-time - the fourth official ordered him from the bench for inciting the Liverpool fans, though Mourinho has claimed it was aimed at the media.

Mourinho said afterwards the press had been too quick to conclude that after successive defeats to Newcastle in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Champions League first leg clash that Chelsea were choking.

The Football Association were awaiting the official match report on Monday from referee Steve Bennett, who has already confirmed details of the incident would be included, before deciding on whether to take further action.

However Frank Clark, LMA vice-chairman, gave his unequivocal support to the former FC Porto handler, who guided them to the UEFA Cup and Champions League trophies in successive seasons before decamping to Chelsea last summer.

"Was that gesticulation? All I saw was Jose put his fingers to his lips, I thought it was fairly innocuous," said Clark, who has managed Nottingham Forest and Newcastle.

"Obviously someone in a position of authority thought differently but it didn't seem very provocative to me, I have to say.

"We regularly talk to our members about their responsibility for behaviour in the technical area and we accept they must act in a sensible fashion within that area.

"We are all conscious of crowd safety at football matches but this was mild."

However despite the LMA's support the people responsible for security at the Millennium Stadium were sufficiently anxious the gesture caused offence to have Mourinho sent down the tunnel.

Should the FA judge Mourinho was provoking the crowd it could potentially lead to a second charge, following his first for claiming Manchester United players were cheating in the League Cup semi-final.

Clark, though, said if Mourinho called on his body to support him in any hearing they would do so.

"If a manager contacts us we would get involved," said the former Nottingham Forest centreback.

"If he is charged in any way we would provide the legal assistance if we thought he was being harshly treated.

"Obviously if someone swears at an official in an aggressive manner we would not defend that. That would be different. You cannot defend the indefensible."