During Amazon Prime Sport’s coverage of Liverpool’s 3-1 Champions League victory over AC Milan at San Siro, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg made a statement that has stunned many football fans.
The match, which saw the Reds start their Champions League campaign in style, was closely followed by viewers and pundits alike.
As Clattenburg provided commentary on a sequence of questionable decisions around the hour mark, co-commentator Alan Shearer made a casual remark, saying, “I think he’s just evening it up there, isn’t he?” This came after two contentious moments where Milan’s Theo Hernandez was fouled by Liverpool players Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, followed by Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo being fouled by Milan’s Christian Pulisic and Youssouf Fofana. Neither incident resulted in a free-kick.
Clattenburg’s response, however, caught everyone’s attention: “I think the first one is a free-kick. I think he just needs to calm the crowd down. The crowd are against him, it’s been putting pressure on him. I think the referee needs to give one or two small fouls to get the judgement back.”
Some reactions from Social Media:
Did I hear Clattenburg right there? pic.twitter.com/2r92UyOk56
— The Redmen TV (@TheRedmenTV) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg just said the ref should give a couple of “small fouls” in Milan’s favour to calm the crowd down.
He was a Premier League ref for 13 years.
— barry (@BackseatsmanLFC) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg showing exactly the type of mindset that gets referees grief
“He’s lost the crowd, he needs to give one or two small fouls to get them back onside”
No you don’t, It’s your job to ref what you see, the crowd doesn’t come into it
— R (@_winnett) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg there suggesting the ref should give some fouls to the home team to calm the crowd down??
This is the brain of the average Fergie-era referee.
— 🅱️ave (@Bavew97) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg, 49, refereed the 2016 European Championship and Champions League finals before leaving the Premier League in 2017 to replace Howard Webb as the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s head of refereeing, where his earnings jumped from £100,000 per year in England to at least £500,000 tax-free in Saudi Arabia.
In February, he was appointed as Nottingham Forest’s referees’ analyst, a role he left in May. Clattenburg has also been the lead referee on the BBC TV show Gladiators and served as a columnist for Mail Sport.
