Chelsea star ‘threatened to break ref’s legs’
Elite officials claim they considered going on strike after the racial abuse claims made at Stamford Bridge last season
Nick Greenslade Published: 15 September 2013
Mikel claimed that he had been racially abused by referee Mark Clattenburg (ADRIAN DENNIS)
FORMER Premier League referee Mark Halsey has claimed that Chelsea star John Obi Mikel threatened to break the legs of his fellow official Mark Clattenburg minutes after Chelsea controversially lost to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge last season.
He has also alleged that so disgusted was the Select Group of referees — of which Clattenburg and Halsey were part — when the full extent of Mikel’s behaviour was not made public that they considered going on strike.
The match, held last October, saw Chelsea’s Fernando Torres handed a controversial second yellow card for diving after the home side had drawn level from 2-0 down. United then won with a goal from Javier Hernandez, whom many thought should have been judged offside.
Chelsea were incensed not only by those decisions but also by claims from their players that Clattenburg had called Juan Mata a “Spanish t***” and then told Mikel to “shut up, you monkey”.
In extracts from his autobiography, published in The S*n today, Halsey says that Mikel burst into the referees’ dressing room after the game and shouted: “I’m going to break your legs. You called me a f***ing monkey.”
Halsey continues: “He tried to land a punch on Mark but was pulled away by a combination of the then Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo and assistant Eddie Newton and Mark’s three fellow officials.” The club then lodged an official complaint against Clattenburg, who missed a month of action while the FA investigated. Chelsea soon dropped the claim over Mata and it was later found that Clattenburg had no case to answer in relation to Mikel, who was banned for three games and fined £60,000 for misconduct.
According to Halsey: “We [the top referees] were unhappy that Mikel’s behaviour had not been made public and we were not impressed by Chelsea’s feeble admission that they could have handled the situation better. We wanted a proper apology.
Their mealy-mouthed ending to the whole sordid episode typified how distasteful it all was.“We were all, as a group of referees, speaking on the phone regularly ... and the mood was for a strike.
At first it was just to refuse to officiate at Chelsea matches unless Mark got a proper apology. That action was not deemed feasible so we contemplated an all-out strike.” Action was averted after the Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, and Chelsea’s chairman, Bruce Buck, met the officials.
Elite officials claim they considered going on strike after the racial abuse claims made at Stamford Bridge last season
Nick Greenslade Published: 15 September 2013
FORMER Premier League referee Mark Halsey has claimed that Chelsea star John Obi Mikel threatened to break the legs of his fellow official Mark Clattenburg minutes after Chelsea controversially lost to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge last season.
He has also alleged that so disgusted was the Select Group of referees — of which Clattenburg and Halsey were part — when the full extent of Mikel’s behaviour was not made public that they considered going on strike.
The match, held last October, saw Chelsea’s Fernando Torres handed a controversial second yellow card for diving after the home side had drawn level from 2-0 down. United then won with a goal from Javier Hernandez, whom many thought should have been judged offside.
Chelsea were incensed not only by those decisions but also by claims from their players that Clattenburg had called Juan Mata a “Spanish t***” and then told Mikel to “shut up, you monkey”.
In extracts from his autobiography, published in The S*n today, Halsey says that Mikel burst into the referees’ dressing room after the game and shouted: “I’m going to break your legs. You called me a f***ing monkey.”
Halsey continues: “He tried to land a punch on Mark but was pulled away by a combination of the then Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo and assistant Eddie Newton and Mark’s three fellow officials.” The club then lodged an official complaint against Clattenburg, who missed a month of action while the FA investigated. Chelsea soon dropped the claim over Mata and it was later found that Clattenburg had no case to answer in relation to Mikel, who was banned for three games and fined £60,000 for misconduct.
According to Halsey: “We [the top referees] were unhappy that Mikel’s behaviour had not been made public and we were not impressed by Chelsea’s feeble admission that they could have handled the situation better. We wanted a proper apology.
Their mealy-mouthed ending to the whole sordid episode typified how distasteful it all was.“We were all, as a group of referees, speaking on the phone regularly ... and the mood was for a strike.
At first it was just to refuse to officiate at Chelsea matches unless Mark got a proper apology. That action was not deemed feasible so we contemplated an all-out strike.” Action was averted after the Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, and Chelsea’s chairman, Bruce Buck, met the officials.
