‘We fear a ref is going to get murdered’ – Jose Mourinho told to take responsibility after Anthony Taylor abuse

Jose Mourinho has been told he must take responsibility for the disgraceful scenes that saw Roma fans confront referee Anthony Taylor at Budapest airport.

That is the view of Ref Support UK CEO Martin Cassidy, who has also expressed his fear that a match official could soon be murdered.

English referee Taylor and his family were confronted by angry supporters as they attempted to leave Hungary on Thursday night.

Bottles and a chair were thrown towards them, with security quickly ushering the group into a more secure area.

The shocking incident came after Roma boss Jose Mourinho branded Taylor a 'f****** disgrace' in the car park as he waited for him after his side's penalty shootout defeat against Sevilla in Wednesday's Europa League final.

And the Portuguese also hit out at the 44-year-old in his post-match press conference, with UEFA now deciding whether to take action against Mourinho.

Many felt Taylor had an exceptional performance at the Puskas Arena, where he made a number of correct calls.

Speaking on the Sports Breakfast, Cassidy said: "It's a really worrying incident this, and we just hope that Anthony and his family are OK and are being supported properly."

He added: "I think people need to recognise the consequences of what they say, what they tweet, what they do.

"Look at what has happened just domestically, we've said for a long time that we fear a match official is going to get murdered. And this is another step closer to that."

talkSPORT host Natalie Sawyer then posed the question as to whether Mourinho's questioning and abuse of Taylor led to the angry confrontation from fans at the airport, and if the Special One should be banned.

To which Cassidy remarked: "Absolutely, and Jose Mourinho needs to take a big chunk of responsibility for this.

"And many managers across the world who do similar don't realise there's consequences here across the world.

"First and foremost, it would be nice to see him come out and see where he sits with this, as well as Roma - the silence is quite damning.

"I think we start to look at taking [the clubs] them out of competitions, deducting points, something more than monetary and silly bans.

"In this context when it's a competition, we've got to look at saying, 'you're not qualified for next season's competition if you do qualify'.

"There's got to be something more than silly weak punishments, otherwise it's going to continue, and something worse than what we've seen last night is going to happen, without consequences."

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said in a statement on Thursday evening: "PGMOL is aware of videos circulating on social media showing Anthony Taylor and his family being harassed and abused at Budapest Airport.

"We are appalled at the unjustified and abhorrent abuse directed at Anthony and his family as he tries to make his way home from refereeing the UEFA Europa League final.

"We will continue to provide our full support to Anthony and his family."

A Premier League spokesperson, meanwhile, said: “We are shocked and appalled by the unacceptable abuse directed at Anthony Taylor and his family as they travelled back from the UEFA Europa League Final. No one should have to suffer the inexcusable behaviour they had to endure yesterday.

“Anthony is one of our most experienced and accomplished match officials and we fully support him and his family.’