I GOT JOSE THE SACK
Clattenburg opens up on grudges, VAR and divers
MARK CLATTENBURG claims Jose Mourinho blames him for getting the sack from Chelsea and Manchester United.
Mourinho had led Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2015 but got the axe in December the following season after a defeat at Leicester when Clattenburg was in charge.
When asked whether any managers hold a grudge, ex- Premier League referee Clattenburg said: “Jose Mourinho did, in the end. He was hard work when he came back from Real Madrid, and well, I got him the sack at Chelsea.
“Well, he blames me for getting him the sack at Chelsea but I would say it was more all of the results before that, too.
“When he went to Manchester United, he was thinking the same thing – I’m going to get him the sack, so he was always anti- me.”
Clattenburg, talking on Paddy Power’s From The Horse’s Mouth podcast, also said there should be more “transparency” around VAR.
He said: “With the VAR technology and bringing fans back ck to stadiring stadiums, they’ve got to bring the experience to the stadium dium and the only way they can do that is by everybody dy listening in to what the he referee has said.
“I’ve heard so many y arguments saying, well ell you know, footballers ers are different to rugby gby players, like the foul language that’s said. But the microphone could be isolated so when the referee speaks and the VAR speaks, that’s all you hear.
“It’d be brilliant for football to understand why that decision was made and it would probably give a bit more transparency because, you know what, some decisions aren’t black and white.”
Clattenburg wants bigger punishment for diving and told a story about Stoke’s James Mcclean ( below).
“He was playing for Wigan against QPR in a play- off. Obviously a huge game and they were winning 1- 0,” said Clattenburg. “He went to go around Rob Green and I’ve seen him dive.
“As he went over, he’s looking for the penalty and I gave him the yellow card for diving. He just said, ‘ So what? I’m a winger. It’s only a yellow card’. But he said, if you give me a second yellow, you would have been killed.
“He was right. If I’d given the penalty, Id I’d have been cru crucified and he only got a yellow ca card and that used to wind m me up as a ref because you t think, hold on, there sho should be more punishment me for diving because it’ it’s the worst thing in fo football.”