Clatts blames Mourinho for making him quit PL refereeing

Matt Stead

Jose Mourinho was the reason Mark Clattenburg quit from his post as a Premier League referee.

Clattenburg became a Select Group referee in the Premier League in 2004, overseeing his first match at that level in August of the same year.

He enjoyed a successful time as one of the country’s most recognisable officials, before leaving in February 2017 for a role with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

The 42-year-old attracted controversy earlier this week for his comments regarding a match between Chelsea and Tottenham in May 2016, and has now blamed Mourinho for his decision to leave the Premier League.

“I was refereeing the game when Wayne Rooney broke Bobby Charlton’s record and Mourinho came into my dressing room and he was unhappy about a handball penalty that I didn’t give,” Clattenburg told the Men in Blazers podcast.

“I’d walked off that pitch at Stoke, which was always the coldest stadium, it was always wet and miserable, and refereeing Man United was never an easy match.

“To come off that match it felt immense that I’d actually had a good performance, and for him to come into my dressing room and criticise my performance for a handball that I’d seen, that had clearly come off his chest, I knew that I was right but he’d put a seed of doubt into my mind.

“I drove home 250 miles thinking I’d made a big error, my wife knew my attitude had changed, and I thought to myself, ‘Do I really want to be a part of this anymore? Do I really want to referee?’

“And I went soul-searching, I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to and I had to get out.”