Clattenburg drops a clanger!

Last night’s game was quite a scorcher. It wasn’t primarily so because it was a feud between the big guns but because of the pivotal role the referee played as the 12^th man.

The Chelsea Manchester United game caught the attention of the cyber space after Mark Clattenburg decided to hand out reds like they were business cards. Influencers across all social media dedicated all their time and effort in making memes that flooded our timelines. Admittedly, Manchester’s holy trinity comprising of their three favourite referees in their jersey was the most innovative.

Clattenburg was in charge of Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Pun intended. London’s home crowd was in for a sad start with Manchester United’s poster boy van Persie scoring a stunner but what followed seemed to be more like a vindictive daily soap than a sportsmanly game. Notwithstanding the offside goal by Javier Hernandez allowed in the 75^th minute, Clattenburg made some pretty appalling decisions. Torres maybe a rather talented play actor, but the crowd at large agreed that the red handed out to him was unfounded. The Evans tackle quite clearly caught him where it mattered and a premeditated dive was out of the question. Torres’s chest high tackle on Cleverly probably should have earned him a red earlier on in the game but the alleged dive surely shouldn’t have. The tension didn’t subside on the sidelines, especially with the Fergie and Di Matteo row. Fergusson went on to say that Chelsea deserved three red cards instead of the two they were issued. The farewell of Branislav Ivanovic garnered a lot of debate about the last defender situation but still remains unresolved.

Well, the game’s over now but the controversy on the pitch is nothing compared to the one off it. Two Chelsea players have reported that Clattenburg used inappropriate language during game play. While the FA is yet to receive a match delegate’s report where Chelsea have filed their report, the Professional Game Match officials have assured all parties that the referee will cooperate with all investigations. The players against which the comments were made are rumoured to be Obi Mikel and Torres. Some believe that the confirmation of these allegations may not only result in a match ban for the referee but may also comprehensively end his career. Former Premier League official Jeff Winter went on to say that the nature of these allegations was extremely serious and the investigation mustn’t be drawn out.

While what happens to the unruly remains to be seen, one thing is for sure, a ban for Clattenburg may result in a man down for Man Utd.