Eva Carneiro receives celebrity treatment at medical conference as former Chelsea doctor breaks silence for first time since opening constructive dismissal proceedings

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Eva Carneiro broke her public silence for the first time since leaving Chelsea and suing the club for constructive dismissal and their former manager Jose Mourinho in a separate but linked claim.

The closest she has come before Saturday afternoon was a faint shake of her head as she left a pre-tribunal heading in Croydon after six hours of talks last month to indicate an agreement had not been reached. 

Her QC Mary O’Rourke revealed Carneiro is seeking a public apology from Mourinho.

Eva Carneiro pictured at a recent pre-tribunal hearing regarding her claims of constructive dismissal against Chelsea. The former Blues doctor made her first public appearance since then on Saturday

Carneiro, who has also lodged a separate but linked claim against former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, was speaking to a sports medical conference

The 42-year-old spent 15 minutes addressing delegates at an event at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London on Saturday

Such is the sensitivity of her negotiations with Chelsea to try to avoid a public tribunal, which will begin on July 6 if an agreement cannot be reached, that a special request was made by Carneiro that no photographs or recordings were made of her talk at a prestigious sports medical conference at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. 

By the time she left, little trace of her presence other than ‘Carneiro, E’ in tiny italics in the programme remained.

‘At the special request from our speaker and also from the organisers, it’s one we hope you honour and respect, and that’s while the next speaker is on could you please not take any photographs or make any recordings,’ doctor Graham Smith said as he introduced her to the stage.

Carneiro’s was a noted omission from the thick tome given to the attendees with each speaker’s introductory summary of their talk, accompanied by a passport-sized photograph. 

Carneiro spoke about the role of medics in sport but guests at the conference were asked not to take photographs of the Portuguese or make recordings of her speech

Jon Fearn, the physio who Carneiro followed onto the pitch which prompted Mourinho’s tirade back in August, who has kept his job, is talking at the event on Sunday and his runs to several hundred words.

The preliminary request did not stop many surreptitiously holding their camera phones at obscure angles to capture her anyway. Carneiro has become something of a celebrity doctor, at least in the sports medicine world. 

The conference room was packed for her appearance with hundreds of doctors — they had flown from all over the world — when crowds for earlier presentations had been sparse, and they filed out in their droves when she left the stage, 15 minutes after commencing, with another doctor set to begin. 

But she would surely trade all of that recognition for her previous role as head doctor for one of the world’s biggest football clubs.

She made no mention of the afternoon in August when she took to the Stamford Bridge pitch to tend to Eden Hazard - a moment which sparked the deterioration of her relationship with Mourinho and Chelsea

She made no reference at all to that fateful afternoon back in August in the Premier League’s opening weekend, when she took to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard not knowing it would be for the last time. 

But she also did not entirely erase the six years she worked at Stamford Bridge from history.

She was accused, along with Fearn, of being ‘impulsive and naive’ by Mourinho in the aftermath of the Swansea match, but this talk was carefully crafted. 

A misplaced word could have significant consequences to her continued deliberations with her former employer.

Carneiro was there to talk about Return to Play — something she has not been able to do since Mourinho demoted her from Chelsea’s bench on match days — specifically around ankle injuries. She discussed ‘assessing psychological readiness to play’ and highlighted ‘game significance’ as a factor.

THE EVA CARNEIRO ROW: HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED AT CHELSEA 

August 8: With Chelsea struggling late on in their Barclays Premier League opener at home to Swansea, Hazard went to ground and the referee called for treatment, at which point Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn went on to the pitch to treat him.

After the 2-2 draw, Mourinho branded his medical staff 'impulsive and naive' as treating Hazard meant Chelsea would be temporarily down to nine men - Thibaut Courtois had already been sent off. 'Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game,' Mourinho said.

August 11: It emerged that Carneiro's role at the club was to change with a downgrading of responsibilities, limiting her to the team's training base as she would no longer attend matches.

August 12: FIFA's chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak was among those to denounce Chelsea's treatment of Carneiro, with the medical community pointing out that she and Fearn had no choice but to respond to the referee's instruction to come on to the pitch.

August 14: Mourinho confirmed neither Carneiro nor Fearn would be on the bench for Chelsea's next match against Manchester City, but said they might return in the future.

September 11: FIFA said it would draw up a new code of practice for team doctors in the wake of the controversy.

Carneiro and Jon Fearn tend to Eden Hazard during Chelsea's 2-2 home draw with Swansea in August

September 22: After Carneiro parted company with Chelsea, Football Association board member Heather Rabbatts expressed her 'sadness and anger' at the Portuguese's departure from the club.

September 23: The Football Medical Association stated it would continue to support Carneiro 'on a professional level'.

September 24: Premier League Doctors' Group called for safeguards to be in place for team doctors.

September 30: The FA confirmed Mourinho would face no action over allegations he made discriminatory comments towards Carneiro during the August 8 confrontation. Women in Football questioned the verdict, while the FA said an 'independent academic expert in Portuguese linguistics' had been called upon to analyse footage of the incident.

Carneiro is highly respected in the sports medicine field and worked for Chelsea from 2009 until the autumn

October 1: Rabbatts expressed 'major concerns' over the FA's handling of the disciplinary process, with FMA chief executive Eamonn Salmon expressing surprise over the absence of Carneiro as a witness. FA chairman Greg Dyke, in a letter to council members, admitted Mourinho should have apologised amid 'a failure of his personal judgement and public behaviour'.

October 2: Carneiro issued a statement insisting she was not requested by the FA to make a statement about Mouinho's alleged remarks. Also said the FA did not ask her for a statement after she was the victim of sexist abuse at West Ham in March and criticised a lack of support from football authorities.

October 29: Carneiro's lawyers serve notice on the club that she intends to seek a claim for constructive dismissal.

January 6: First tribunal hearing takes place in Croydon, south London.

March 7: A further private hearing is held, also in Croydon.

Carneiro's tribunal is due to start on July 6 if the relevant parties cannot come to an agreement first

‘I have particularly fond memories of how important a Champions League final was in making a cohort of 24 players absolutely psychologically ready to take on the return to play,’ Carneiro said, referring to Chelsea’s victory against Bayern Munich in the 2012 final.

She added: ’The relationship with management absolutely effects how ready they [the players] feel to take on a risk.’ 

Carneiro knows all too well how the relationship with a manager can effect a member of a football team. The rest of the talk was reserved for the medical professionals.

Life has slowly moved on for Carneiro, while she awaits final closure and separation from Chelsea. 

The 42-year-old has started work at the Gibraltar Specialist Medical Clinic and in November last year married polar explorer Jason De Cateret.

Little of the heavy weight of the impending public employment tribunal was apparent as she laughed and joked with familiar faces outside the Churchill auditorium, where she would speak, earlier in the afternoon, in the hours leading up to her section.

What is set finally to be a conclusion to the bitter dispute over her Chelsea departure which has hung like a storm cloud over the past eight months of her life and looks several more away from dissipating.

She has recently started work at the Gibraltar Specialist Medical Clinic, and got married in November last year

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