SOCCER:THE ENGLISH Football Association has begun an investigation into Mikel John Obi's allegation that he was racially insulted by the referee Mark Clattenburg in Chelsea's 3-2 defeat by Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The Metropolitan Police may also open an inquiry after receiving an official complaint.
The Society of Black Lawyers has written to the Met to ask it to “see if a racially-aggravated offence has occurred”. That development came as details emerged of the chaos and anxiety in the home dressingroom after Sunday’s full-time whistle.
Senior Chelsea players spoke to Mikel, the Nigeria midfielder, and asked him if he was absolutely certain that he had heard Clattenburg correctly in the flashpoint that followed Javier Hernandez’s controversial winning goal for United, when Mikel was booked for dissent.
It was even discussed whether there might have been a misunderstanding that related to Clattenburg’s north-east accent. Everybody at Chelsea is acutely sensitive to the severity of the allegation, particularly in the wake of the club captain John Terry’s four-match FA suspension for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand last October.
With tensions running high, Mikel was adamant he had been wronged and it is understood that three or four of his team-mates were ready to support him; the Brazil midfielder Ramires is one of them. Juan Mata, the Spain midfielder, also felt that Clattenburg had directed offensive language towards him and it is a key aspect of Chelsea’s grievance that the referee is accused of using “inappropriate” language on separate occasions to different players.
Clattenburg, who has yet to comment on the allegations but is said by the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) to welcome “the opportunity for the facts to be established”, has been stood down from taking charge of a game this weekend.
Roberto Di Matteo, the Chelsea manager, emerged late for his post-match press conference as he had been to see Clattenburg, as did Mikel, to confront him over the allegations. The Chelsea squad remained at the stadium for two hours after full-time while the club carried out an investigation to establish the facts before they made their formal complaint to the football authorities at 8pm.
The FA, conscious of the 12 months that it took it to reach a verdict over Terry, although that was delayed by his criminal prosecution, is determined to act as quickly as possible this time while maintaining its thoroughness.
It will schedule interviews with Mikel, Mata, Clattenburg, his assistants and the fourth official, together with anybody else it deems necessary, but it is likely the investigation will take weeks rather than days.
Clattenburg has heard support from the referees’ union, Prospect, and the PGMO, even though the latter has taken the decision to rest him in light of the furore.
“PGMO believe that with any football match,” it said, “the focus should not be on the officials but on the players and the game itself. Mark Clattenburg is one of the elite referees in world football and, in these circumstances, the intense level of scrutiny would detract from the match and be unfair to the club and the supporters of both sides.”
Clattenburg fed his match details from Stamford Bridge into the FA’s database as usual but he needed to write a report to cover the game’s extraordinary incidents. The Premier League’s match delegate also filed to the FA. The evidence of the assistant referees, Michael McDonough and Simon Long, together with the fourth official, Michael Jones, stands to be crucial.
Clattenburg was wearing a microphone and each member of his officiating team would have been able to hear what he said throughout the 90 minutes. Former World Cup referee Graham Poll said: “Assistant referees . . . if they heard Mark Clattenburg made inappropriate comments, they will report it.”
Separately, the Metropolitan Police said it was “investigating the incident in which the match-day steward was injured” in the crowd melee that followed Hernandez’s goal. The FA has opened a separate investigation into the trouble that flared after the decisive goal, when coins and other missiles were thrown from the stands.
Whistling up a storm: Chelsea controversy not the first for Clattenburg
Jan 2005 – Pedro Mendes 'goal' not given
Clattenburg fails, along with his assistants, to spot the Tottenham midfielder Mendes's shot has been fumbled over the line by the Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll in a match at Old Trafford and a goal is not given
Oct 2007 – Tony Hibbert sent off
The Durham-born referee sends off the Everton full-back in a Merseyside derby. After appearing to be about to show Hibbert a yellow card, Clattenburg seems to change his mind and pulls out a red after a brief exchange with Steven Gerrard. He later does not send off Dirk Kuyt for a two-footed lunge at Phil Neville. He does not referee another Everton match until 2012 and has yet to reappear at Goodison Park
Aug 2008 – Sacked over business dealings
He is suspended pending a probe into his business affairs following allegations he owes £60,000 as a result of a failed venture. He is then withdrawn from the FA Community Shield match between Manchester United and Portsmouth and later sacked by the Professional Game Match Officials Board. In February 2009 he is reinstated as a Select Group Referee on appeal but suspended for eight months from 6 August, 2008, – the date of his original ban – for issues relating to his private business affairs
Dec 2009 – Craig Bellamy accusation
It is alleged, in a match between Bolton and Manchester City, that Clattenburg asks the Manchester City bench: "How do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?" He later sends off Bellamy for a second yellow
Oct 2010 – Nani goal stands
Clattenburg correctly, if controversially, allows a goal to stand between Manchester United and Tottenham when the alert Nani seizes his chance to tap in to the empty net after the Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes puts down the ball, believing his side had a free-kick. Clattenburg had not blown his whistle.
