Jeff Winter; former Premier League referee on one of the thrilling events that encapsulated Sunday’s EPL clash between Chelsea and Manchester United in Stamford bridge which is the allegation of racial abuse brought against the officiating referee Mark Clattenburg by Mikel Obi and Juan Mata during the game.
An official complaint was lodged by the West London club over the alleged use of ‘inappropriate language’ by referee Clattenburg that was directed at two of their players, Mikel Obi and Juan Mata.
It was reported by a major British newspaper that Clattenburg has been accused of making a racial slur towards Mikel and called Mata a ‘Spanish t**t’.
If the allegations are true then Clattenburg is never going to get a game to officiate ever again and rightly so, but if it is true, where does it leave the game?
Officiating referee of the English Premier League?
It was reported that Mikel went to the referee’s dressing room to demand an apology following the match, with chief executive Ron Gourlay and manager Roberto Di Matteo.
According to the former EPL referee, Clattenburg’s position will be untenable if he’s found guilty of the offence, that “If a match official has used racial insults or language to a player then he’s for the high jump. He won’t be getting a four-match or an eight-match ban, it’ll probably be the end of his career, but that is if indeed he did say anything.”
“I feel it very unlikely that Mark Clattenburg would be allowed to referee until it’s dealt with so we certainly don’t want this going on for weeks and months.”
Talking racial abuse that has been lingering for a long while in the British football community for a while now with the recent case between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand which has generated so much uproar, this again will run and run with so much discord. he said
To go into investigations, television pictures will be scrutinised and reports suggest that a number of players heard the alleged comments, whilst the other officials Michael McDonough, Simon Long and Michael Jones could be crucial as they were all wearing microphones during the game.
