by Our Sports Desk

Managers who attempt to interfere with the treatment of players by team doctors should face disciplinary action and sanctions in the future, the Football Association’s independent board member Heather Rabbatts said yesterday.

Speaking in the wake of the case of former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro, who left the Premier League club after being criticised by Jose Mourinho and dropped from first-team duties, Rabbatts said the FA needed to look at all the issues that had been raised.

Rabbatts, speaking at the Leaders in Sport Business Summit in London, said: “The issue of safeguarding players is clearly vitally important and I think there are a number of concerns out there shared by Premier League doctors and medical practitioners.

“It may well be we need to think about more effective sanctions if protocols currently in place are breached, and that maybe it should be a disciplinary offence if there is interference between the players and the medical staff.

“We need to think how we can all be better across the game when incidents like this happen, and I hope we will see Eva back in the game.”

Carneiro and head physio Jon Fearn were demoted from first-team duties after Mourinho used his post-match press conference at the start of the season to attack the pair for their actions.

Mourinho was later cleared by the FA of making discriminatory remarks — the Chelsea boss was allegedly caught on camera calling Carneiro a “daughter of a whore” in Portuguese — and Rabbatts criticised the FA for not interviewing Carneiro herself.

She left Chelsea two weeks ago and is expected to take legal action against the club for constructive dismissal.

Rabbatts, the head of the FA’s inclusion advisory board, has been fiercely critical of the FA’s handling of the case.