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Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg enjoyed a fulfilling career and was among the best in the world. He has now revealed that his time refereeing was not a bed of roses as he had some tough players to deal with.
Mark Clattenburg was a highly decorated referee, who took charge of the UEFA Champions League final, Euros final and FA Cup final during his career. He was one of the most recognizable match officials until he retired from European football in 2017.
Clattenburg spoke to Daily Mail in 2020 about the five most annoying players he encountered in his career and mentioned several of the game's current and former stars.
The former English referee mentioned the names of Burnley assistant manager Craig Bellamy, Arsenal legend Jens Lehmann, former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel, Manchester United legend Roy Keane and Portugal great Pepe.
Speaking about Bellamy, he said:
"I knew my relationship with him was on sticky ground when he squeezed my balls in the tunnel at the Etihad, and I don't mean my match-balls. But Bellamy was a nightmare to referee and most of us felt the same. He would snarl at you and throw his arms around, constantly challenging you. His language was awful, just plain rude."
Speaking on Lehmann, he said:
"He was just so irritable and never stopped, one of those miserable blokes who would whinge about everything and everyone. If the ball was round, he would whinge. If the ball was white, he would whinge. You would think, 'Just give it a rest'.
"But he would do snidey, little things himself that made it difficult and I didn't enjoy refereeing him at all. He was erratic and his antics were not easy to deal with."
On Roy Keane, Mark Clattenburg revealed that he had become a better person after retirement, but during his career, he was a menace.
"I have to start by saying that I worked with Roy for ITV during the World Cup in 2018 and he was a gentleman and nice to be around, proof that players can be very different off the pitch from on it.
"You just couldn't trust Roy either. You never knew if he was going to blow up or do something nasty, like the tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland. That was a disgrace, it was pre-meditated.
"He always came across as stone-cold and wanted to be the hard man. That causes problems for referees because the ego kicks in and it becomes a fight, like it did between him and Patrick Vieira."
On Pepe, the former referee said that he had to be very wary of his in-game antics and dirty play.
"He was another player you just couldn't trust. A game could be easy and straightforward then he would do something sly. But he was a wind-up merchant and not fun to referee one bit, you had to be on your guard constantly."
Mark Clattenburg named Obi Mikel for a single on-field incident that could have cost him his career back in 2012 when the midfielder played for Chelsea.
"I have picked Mikel because of the incident during a Chelsea v Manchester United match in 2012 when he accused me of making a racist comment, which was not right and I was later cleared by the FA.
"He has never apologized and that is disappointing because it could have ruined my life. I fell out of love with refereeing for a while after that but couldn't quit because I had a family to support and no other career to pursue.
"It all left a bad feeling that still lingers today. Mikel only heard the allegation from his team-mate Ramires, who did not speak English. Other Chelsea players have since apologised but nothing from Mikel."
Mark Clattenburg: One of the most widely-regarded referees
During his career in England, Mark Clattenburg officiated matches in the domestic English competitions as well as on the European stage. He was in charge of both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Euros finals in 2016.
Clattenburg left the Premier League in 2017 to become the director of refereeing in Saudi Arabia, a role he held for 18 months before leaving the position. He returned to full-time refereeing in the Chinese Super League in 2019.
Mark Clattenburg also worked in Egypt as a referee and worked with ESPN as a VAR expert for Euro 2020. He has been involved with several matches of a charity nature and does not work professionally as a match official anymore.
